Growth evaluation of in-vitro propagated seeds and shoot tips of Mansonia altissima (A Chev.) A Chev

This research work aimed at developing protocol for in-vitro propagation of Mansonia altissima . Cultureinitiation experiment involved four treatments (Control (distilled water), 25 %, 50 % and 100 % Murashige and Skoog (MS) basal medium) with ten replications. The shoot regeneration involved 2 x 3 x 2 factorial treatments with five replications. Factors were two MS media strengths (Half and Full), three Benzyl Amino Purine (BAP) levels (0, 1.0 and 2.0 mg/L) and two explant types (shoot tips and lower stem). Root induction experiment consisted four treatments (0, 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 mg/L Naphthalene Acetic Acid) with five replications in MS medium. All treatments were laid out in completely randomised design. The results showed that 100 % seed germination was obtained in distilled water only and 100 % MS basal medium at 2 weeks after inoculation (WAI). However, 25 % MS medium gave highest support for shoot growth of the seed plantlets in terms of shoot length (6.22 cm) and adventitious roots (33.5) at 3 WAI. The explants were best regenerated using full strength MS medium, 1.0 mg BAP/L and shoot tips with highest average number of leaves (3.2) at 8 WAI. None of the rooting treatments induced any root on the plantlets at 12 WAI. It could be inferred that culture of M. altissima could be initiated in-vitro using seeds on sterile distilled water or 25 % MS basal medium while its shoot-tips could be best regenerated when sub-cultured on 100 % MS basal medium supplemented with 0.1 BAP mg/L. Keywords: Culture-initiation, Protocol, Root induction and Shoot regeneration