STUDIES ON MICROPROPAGATION IN SOME SOLANACEOUS VEGETABLE CROPS

Abstract

The present study was carried out in the tissue culture laboratory of Plant Production Department of the Faculty of Agriculture (Saba Basha), Alexandria University during the period of 1999 to 2001. Two major experiments were conducted; the first was to find out the appropriate micropropagation media for three solanaceous genera; tomato, eggplant and pepper using nodal cutting technique. Respecting the initiation stages (starting stage) shoot tip explants (ca. 5 cm of hypocotyl and portion of cotyledons) were cultured on MS (1962)-medium supplemented with the auxin (NAA) at 3 concentrations: 0.000 (nil), 0.125 and 0.250 mg/1, in combinations with the cytokinin (BAP) at 5 concentrations: 0.000 (nil), 0.125, 0.250, 0.500 and 1.000 mg/1. As for multiplication stages, the neoformed propagules of initiation stage were sectioned into single leafless nodes. These nodal cuttings of different positions were cultured onto multiplication media (i.e. MS-basal-medium) which augmented with NAA at 3 levels; 0.000 (nil), 0.125 and 0.250 mg/1 in combinations with BAP at 5 levels, 0.000 (nil), 0.250, 0.500, 1.000 and 2.000 mg/1. However, the means of the following characters for both stages were determined after 35 days of growth: shoot length (cm.), number of neoformed leaflets, nodes and roots per propagule. For the sake of rhizogenesis, the neoformed shoots were, readily, rooted via culturing them onto MS (1962)-medium augmented with NAA at 0.1250 mg/1 (as concluded from the obtained results). However, the obtained results of this part of study can be summarized as follows: