INFLUENCE OF PICLORAM ON CALLI INDUCTION AND SOMATIC EMBRYOS DEVELOPMENT OF DATE PALM CV. HAYANI VIA In vitro
RASHA, N. ARAFA *
Central Lab of Date Palm Researches and Development, Agricultural Research Center, Giza, Egypt
GHADA, A. ALI
Central Lab of Date Palm Researches and Development, Agricultural Research Center, Giza, Egypt
SAYED, A. A. ELSAYH
Horticulture Research Institute, Department Breeding, Agricultural Research Center, Giza, Egypt
SALWA EL-HABASHY
Horticulture Research Institute, Department Breeding, Agricultural Research Center, Giza, Egypt
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
This research aims to investigate the influences of various levels of Picloram on embryogenic calli induction and proliferation from shoot tip explants of date palm. In callus induction stage, the concentrations of Picloram tested were 0.0, 10.0, 20.0, 30.0, 40.0 and 50.0 mg/l. Observations were based on the percentage of explants forming callus and fresh weight of callus. The study reveals that Picloram was capable of increasing the proportion of explants that formed calli, since Picloram at 50 mg/l in combination with 3.0 mg/l of 2ip gave the highest percentage of induction calli on explants (89.76%) and the fresh weight of callus was 5.33 g/jar. In addition, in the induction stage of somatic embryos, the concentrations of Picloram tested were 0.0, 1.0, 3.0, 5.0 and 10.0 mg/l. Adding 5.0 mg/l of Picloram with a combination of BA and TDZ at 1.0 mg/l was also able to accelerate the callus proliferation to form embryos recording the best somatic embryos number (30.21 embryo/jar). The various PEG concentrations had such a significant influence on the maturation of somatic embryos. PEG at a dosage of 20 mg/l seemed to have the greatest results, yielding 20.0 leaf/jar.
Keywords: Date palm, Picloram, PEG, callus embryogenesis induction, embryos germination, embryos maturation