biologia plantarum

Biologia plantarum 50:771-774, 2006 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-006-0128-8

Sucrose effects on in vitro fruiting and seed production of Centaurium pulchellum

S. Todorović¹, D. Grubišić¹, Z. Giba², D. Mišić¹, R. Konjević^2,*

¹ Institute for Biological Research "Siniša Stanković", Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro

² Faculty of Biology, Institute of Botany, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro

The effect of sucrose on fruiting, seed production, and seed germination of lesser centaury [Centaurium pulchellum (Sw.) Druce] was examined using explants of flowers and flower buds. Sucrose concentrations in the culture medium ranged from 0.003 to 0.3 M. It has been shown that the number of auxiliary buds, capsules dimension, number of viable seeds per capsule and seed dimensions increased with the increase of sucrose concentrations. The highest values were recorded at sucrose concentrations higher than 0.03 M, except for seeds size, which were larger at sucrose concentration ranging from 0.003 to 0.1 M. The germination of in vitro produced seeds was affected by previous culture history: a higher germination percentage was obtained in seeds that were raised from explants originally grown on medium with sucrose concentrations higher than 0.003 M.

Keywords: explants; germination; gibberellic acid; lesser centaury

Subjects: Centaurium pulchellum; fruiting; gibberellic acid, gibberellins; lesser centaury; seed; sucrose; sugars

Received: March 8, 2005; Accepted: December 10, 2005; Published: December 1, 2006  Show citation