MICROPROPAGATION OF JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE (Helianthus tuberosus L.) PLANT

Abstract

This study was carried out on three cultivars of Jerusalem artichoke (i.e., Alba, Fuza and Balady). The main target was to establish a cost effective and an efficient in vitro propagation protocol of J. artichoke by tissue culture technique for large scale production. The tubers of J. artichoke were released of dormancy by using 400 mg L-1 gibberellic acid. Aseptic cultures of stem nodes were successfully initiated on ½ MS + 62.5 mg L-1 cefotaxime. The best results for shoots multiplication were observed on MS + 1 mg L-1 BA + 0.1 mg L-1 NAA + 50 mg L-1 nano-selenium. In vitro shootlets were efficiently rooted on ½ MS + 2 mg L-1 IBA + 0.1 mg L-1 NAA + 0.5 mg L-1 kin. In vitro derived plantlets were well acclimatized on a mixture of peat moss, sand (1:1). In addition, callus cultures of Balady, Fuza and Alba cultivars were successfully established from stem explants on MS supplemented with 1 mg L-1 BA + 2 mg L-1 NAA. Callus cultures could be used for inulin production. Moreover, in direct shootlets regeneration from stem callus of the three cultivars was achieved on MS + 6.0 mg L-1 picloram + 0.1 mg L-1 NAA. Furthermore, for enhancement and accumulation of inulin, hairy root cultures of Balady cultivar by Agrobacterium rhizogenes (A4) were obtained. Finally, for molecular characterization of the in vivo plants and the in vitro derived cultures (in vitro plantlets and callus), RAPD, ISSR and SCoT based markers techniques were performed to identify the differences between them. Furthermore, the results of dendogram were indicated that there was highly similarity between Balady and Fuza and very low similarity between those and Alba cultivar was identified.