Multiplication of castor lines using tissue culture techniques

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Date
2015-11-11
Authors
Mulawa, Mulawa
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Abstract
A study was conducted between February and September by a series of experiments at the school of Agricultural Sciences tissue culture Laboratory. The aim of the investigation was to develop a tissue culture propagation method for various castor plant varieties i.e. to investigate the effects of different Media components on both shooting and root formation. Castor plantlets were produced via tissue culture using shoot buds from recently germinated or young castor plant as explants. Explants were transferred and maintained on Shoot and Root induction Media for 8 weeks and 4 weeks respectively. The optimum tissue culture conditions were; MS Medium containing 1.5 ppm 6 Benzlaminopurine (BAP) and 1.0 ppm Naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA). Micropagation success was genotype-dependent. Varieties 2 (L162# 2) and 4(L46#6) exhibited the best performance overall with regards to shooting and rooting. While all varieties proved themselves amenable to shoot culture, only 2 and 4 were responsive to this concentration of rooting Media. In addition, average multiplication rates varied among experiments from 1-4 shoots per explant. Rooting was however the most difficult phase in the propagation process. Most of the plantlets had small, very thick and highly branched growth habit when growing in vitro.
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Caster plants , Tissue culture propagation
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