Discipline: Biological Sciences
Subcategory: Plant Research
Gabrielle Genderen - Fort Valley State University
Co-Author(s): Sarwan Dhir, Center for Biotechnology, Department of Agricultural Science, Fort Valley State University, Fort Valley, GA
Moringa oleifera Lam., commonly known as drumstick, has potential as a commercial medicinal and nutritional supplement. This plant has long been recognized in folk medicine and is extensively used in the treatment of rheumatism, venomous bites and as a cardiac and circulatory stimulant. The present study was aimed to establish an efficient and rapid protocol for in vitro plant propagation of Moringa oleifera through axillary shoot explants. Axillary shoot growth was induced by supplementing Murashige and Skoog’s (MS) medium with cytokinins. Of the three cytokinins tested, namely benzylaminopurine (BAP), kinetin (KN), and thidiazuron (TDZ), BAP at 0.5 mg/l showed a maximum of 92% of shoot proliferation with 15.2±0.87 number of shoots per explant with 2.26±0.05 cm mean height of individual shoots after 4 weeks. The combination of BAP (0.5 mg/l) and NAA (0.5 mg/l) showed 95% of shooting response with 17.4±0.36 number of shoots per explant with 3.62±0.03 cm means height of individual shoots. The combination of BAP (0.5 mg/l) and IAA (0.1 mg/l) produced 71% of shooting response with 7.4±0.46 number of shoots per explants with a mean shoot height of 1.50±0.2 cm. After standardization of PGRs for shoot multiplication, the multiplied shoots were subjected for root formation using various concentrations of PGRs. IAA and NAA were tested in varying concentrations from 0.1-1.00 mg/l. IAA in a concentration of 0.5 mg/l recorded 92% of rooting response with a maximum number of 15.0±0.89 root hairs in a mean root length of 8.3±0.23 cm. NAA in a concentration of 0.1 mg/l responded 93% of root formation with 14.6±1.19 number of roots per explants with a mean root length of 11.1±0.38 cm. The rooted plants were transferred to soil and vermiculture in the ratio of 1:1 and were kept in the humidity chamber for acclimatization. The established system is efficient enough to be used for mass production of healthy plants in a short period of time. Fast growing embryogenic callus were also established from leaf segments of in vitro raised plants on MS medium supplemented with 4.52 uM 2,4-D and 11.09 uM BAP. The highest induction frequencies of somatic embryos were obtained on MS medium containing 13.31 uM BAP and 3% sucrose with an average of 28 embryos per gram of callus. The continuous production of Moringa regenerated plants via somatic embryogenesis could be used as a possible micropropagation and plant transformation system.
References: Islam S, Jahan MAA, Khatun R (2005) In vitro regeneration and multiplication of year-round fruit bearing Moringa oleifera L. Journal Biological Science 5:145-148.
Marfori EC (2010) Clonal micropropagation of Moringa oleifera L. Philippines Agricultural Science 93:454-457.
Funder Acknowledgement(s): This study was supported, in part, by grants from NSF HRD TIP HBCU-UP #1238789 awarded to Sarwan Dhir, Ph.D., Director of the Center for Biotechnology, Fort Valley State University, Fort Valley, GA-31030.
Faculty Advisor: Sarwan Dhir, dhirs0@fvsu.edu
Role: Design the experiments, collect the data, prepare the data for presentation.