biologia plantarum

Biologia plantarum 44:503-507, 2001 | DOI: 10.1023/A:1013722116224

Factors Affecting Somatic Embryogenesis from Cotyledonary Explants of Safflower

A.K.A. Mandal¹, S. Dutta Gupta², A.K. Chatterji³

¹ Floriculture Section, National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow-, India

² Department of Agricultural and Food Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur-, India

³ Calcutta-, India

Frequency of safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) somatic embryogenesis, number of somatic embryos per responding explant and somatic embryo maturation and germination were affected by genotype, explant age, carbon source, and ethylene. Among 8 cultivars tested, 7 were embryogenic with varying frequencies. The best response was obtained with cv. Girna. Whole cotyledonary explant from 10-d-old plants was best responding compared to 5- or 15-d-old ones. Among different carbon sources, sucrose at 87.6 mM concentration was most suitable for embryo induction, maturation and germination. Of the different ethylene inhibitors, silver nitrate at 50 [micro ]M concentration significantly increased the embryogenic frequency and also the number of embryos per responding explant. Silver nitrate has pronounced effect on embryo maturation but had no effect on germination.

Keywords: Carthamus tinctorius; ethylene; phytohormones; somatic embryos; sugars

Subjects: auxins; Carthamus tinctorius; cultivar differences, somatic embryogenesis; cytokinins; ethylene, frequency of somatic embryogenesis; in vitro culture, somatic embryogenesis; in vitro culture, sugars as C source, low sugar media; photoautotrophy, in vitro culture; photomixotrophy, in vitro culture; safflower, somatic embryogenesis

Published: December 1, 2001  Show citation