PLANT CELL BIOTECHNOLOGY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

Agave vera-cruz mill., a member of Agavaceae, is one of the important ornamental, fibre yielding and medicinal plants, native to Mexico and neutralized throughout India. Shoot apices excised from young plants and cotyledons from one-week old seedlings were used as explants. They were inoculated on Murashige and Skoog medium with L2 vitamins (modified)/ Schenk and Hildbrandt medium supplemented with various growth regulators. Multiple shoots were obtained on a medium supplemented with either cytokinin alone or in the combination with auxin. NAA (5.37 M)+Zea (0.91 M) was found to be best combination to obtain viable organogenic callus in shoot tip cultures, whereas 2-ip(9.8 M)/Kin (0.91 M)along with IAA (0.2 M) in cotyledon culture. Callus raised from shoot tip on modified MS+NAA(5.37 M))+Zea(0.91 M)+cholesterol(258.6 M-1034.4 M) was transferred to modified 1/2 MS +BAP(8.86 uM) where nearly 100 shoots per culture were obtained within 6 months. Rooting plants were transferred pots containing sand:soil:manure in the ratio of 1:1:1. Nearly 80% of survival in vitro plants were recorded. This is the report on regeneration from the cultures of Agave vera-cruz mill.