Propagation of tomato crop , Solanum lycopersicom L. using tissue culture techniques

The current investigation was carried out at the Tissue Culture Laboratory of Vegetable Crops Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt during the period of 2009 to 2010. In the first experiment of this study, two tomato hybrids, namely; Agayad 7 and Jawahar were used for in vitro regeneration. Hypocotyt and cotyledon explants were isolated from seedlings and cultured on modified MS medium which contains MS salts and B5 vitamins supplemented with 0.5, 1, 2, or 3 mg/l zeatin. The highest number of shoots were produced in Jawahar hybrid. Significant differences were found between different explants. The highest number of shoots per explant was produced by culturing cotyledon explants. The MS medium containing 2, 0.5 or 3 mg/l zeatin induced the highest number of shoots per explant (22.48, 19.92 and 19.0, respectively). The interaction between hybrids and explants was non-significant. Culturing cotyledon explant produced higher number of shoots per explant in Jawahar on MS medium containing 0.5, I, 2, and 3 mg/l zeatin. Maximum number of shoots per explant was produced by culturing cotyledon explant of Agayad 7 on MS medium containing 3 mg/l zeatin. The interaction (genotype x explant x zeatin concentration) revealed that the maximum shoot weight was obtained from cotyledon explant cultured on MS medium containing 3 mg/l zeatin in both hybrids. The highest plant (18.75cm) was produced by using MS medium with 3 mg/l zeatin in both hybrids. Concerning the interaction between the media and explants, culturing hypocotyl explant on MS medium with 2 mg/l zeatin produced the longest shoots. .Three way interactions (genotype, explant and zeatin concentration) revealed that the longest plants were produced by culturing cotyledon and hypocotyl explants on MS medium with 3.0 mg/l zeatin in Agayad 7 (21.33 cm) and in Jawahar (22.67 cm). The highest percentage of shoot formation occurred on MS medium with 3 mg/l zeatin followed by 1 mg/l zeatin (98.3% and 96.7% respectively). In the second experiment activated charcoal (AC) at 0, 1, 5 or 10 mg/l combined with casein hydrolysate(CH) at 0, 50,100,200,500 or 1000mg/1 were also added at MS medium. The statistical analysis showed that Jawahar genotype significantly affected plantlets regeneration. AC at concentration of 5 mg/l seemed to act as a promoter of organogenesis. Casein hydrolysate did not have any significant effect on shoot regeneration response. Plantlets regeneration increased significantly by the addition of activated charcoal at 5 mg/l with 100 .mg/l casein hydrolysate in Agayad 7. The best results were obtained in Jawahar with increasing in shoot percentage of 90.28% and 91.68 % by increasing the concentration of CH from 50 mg/l to 500 mg/l respectively. The highest weight of plant lets was obtained on MS media with 1000 mg/l CH with Agayad 7 and 500 mg/l CH with Jawahar (8.27 and 8.83, respectively). Agayad genotype produced longest shoots on MS medium supplemented with lmg/IAC and 0 mg/ICH.