Micropropagation of pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) ‘Bhagava’ cultivar from nodal explant

Abstract

Reliable and reproducible protocols to get healthy and well formed plants from nodal explants of the pomegranate (Punica granatum L) cv ‘Bhagava’ has been developed. Nodal segments were cultured on two different media at full strength Murashige and Skoog (MS) and Woody Plant Medium (WPM). The media was prepared as a basal medium supplemented with 0.2 to 2 mg/L 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP), 0.1 to 1 mg/L 1-naphthalacetic acid (NAA), 0.5 to 2.5 mg/L silver nitrate (AgNO3) and 10 to 50 mg/L adenine sulphate for establishment stage. For proliferation stage, 0.1 to 0.5 mg/L BAP and NAA was tested. For rooting stage 0.0, 0.25 and 0.5 mg/L 3-Indolebutyric acid (IBA) and NAA on MS and WPM medium were tested. The nodal explants grown on MS medium containing 1.8 mg/L BAP, 0.9 mg/L NAA, 1 mg/L silver nitrate and 30 mg/L adenine sulphate had the highest proliferation rate (10 to 15 shoots/explants) in establishment stage. The same trend was found concerning the maximum leaves numbers (15 to 20 leaves/explants) on proliferation medium containing 0.4 mg/L BAP and 0.3 mg/L NAA. The plantlets grown on MS medium were found to have better survival compared to WPM medium. 0.5 mg/L NAA and 0.5 mg/L IBA showed equal rooting response in both the medium, whereas thick root formation was observed in the medium containing IBA.

Key words: Micropropagation, proliferation, rooting, Punica granatum.