In vitro seeds germination and seedling growth of cashew (Anacardium occidentale L.)

Abstract

In Côte d’Ivoire, the yield of cashew nuts is low. This situation has led to the use of improved clonal-based material for the expansion or establishment of new plantations. To obtain a mass propagation of such elite materials, application of tissue culture becomes very important. However, it is difficult to obtain viable explants derived from mature plants developing in field because of high concentrations of disinfectants required for surface sterilization. Explants excised from in vitro seedlings are therefore the most suitable for the micropropagation of cashew. The objective of this study was to identify the type of seeds suitable for in vitro germination and plantlets development. Seeds without shell with entire cotyledons (SWSEC), seeds without shells with half cotyledons (SWSHC) and the embryonic axis (EA) were placed on the basal medium of Murashige and Skoog (MS) without any plant growth regulators. The final rate of germination ranged from 75 to 95 %, the time to have 50 % germination and the average germination time were statistically identical with the three types of seeds. Higher plants (7cm) with larger numbers of leaves, which are more vigorous were obtained with SWSHC. This type of seeds is therefore more suitable provide seedling used as explant sources for the
micropropagation of the cashew tree.

Key words : Anacardium occidentale ; germination ; micropropagation