MICROPROPAGATION OF Loropetalum chinense Plant.

Abstract

This study was carried out in the Tissue Culture Laboratory, Horticulture Research Institute, Agriculture Research Center, Ministry of Agriculture, Giza, Egypt, during the period from 2016 to 2019 to establish an efficient protocol for rapid direct plant regeneration of ornamental shrup viz. Loropetalum chinense . Active growing shoots were excised from 2-years-oldseedlings of Loropetalum chinense plant, which were imported from China. Terminal nodes were prepared by dividing the shoots into 1.0-1.5 cm. The nutrient media in this study were MS , B5 and WPM Media . Media were solidified and supplemented with 7.0 g/l agar and sucrose at 30.0 g/l was added as a source of carbohydrates. The pH was adjusted to 5.7 by using a few drops of either potassium hydroxide (0.1 N KOH) or hydrochloric acid (0.1 N HCl). Twenty ml of MS medium were poured in 150 ml jars and plugged with polypropylene closure then sterilized by autoclaving under steam pressure of 1.2 bar at 121ºC for 20 min. All cultures of Loropetalum chinense experiments were maintained in a growth room at 25 ± 2 ºC and exposed to 16 h day photoperiod light intensity of 2000 lux from white fluorescent lamps. A factorial experiment in a complete randomized design was employed in all the experiments. Analysis of variance was used to show statistical differences between treatments using L.S.D at 5% probability level. 100