In vitro system for clonal propagation of nepa palm (Nypa fruticans Wurmbl, Arecaceae)
2013
Lapitan, V.C. | Nicolas, K.L.C.
In the Philippines, nipa polm is becoming an important source of industrial and many other derivative products. Recently, research on nipa has focused on its potential use as a biofuel crop because it has several advantages compared with other biofuel-alcohol crops. However, making industrial alcohol from nipa is hampered by the availability of superior planting materials in a large quantity. In vitro clonal propagation is a promising alternative for producing large quantities of uniform planting materials of high quality. This is the first to develop in vitro clonal propagation technique for nipa. With the aim of developing a reliable cloning method, propagation was carried out using different explants such as immature embryo, plumule, and young leaf. Sterilization of explants was optimized using different concentrations of ethyl alcohol, commercial bleach, and their combinations. The effect of the different basal media such as MY3, N6, and MS with different concentrations of 2, 4-D, 3% sucrose and 0.25% activated charcoal on propagation technique was likewise evaluated. Among the explants, only the immature embryos survived. Sterilization using 5.25% NaC1O with 5 drops of Tween20 for 20 minutes was the best among the four combinations tested with 90% decontamination. The embryos germinated after three weeks and eventually developed into green plantlets. Modified Y3 medium supplemented with 7.0 mg/L 2, 4-D generated the most number of germinated plantlets. Clonal propagation was performed by cutting the plantlets longitudinally along the shoot apical meristem into four sections and cultured in the regeneration medium. From these findings, it is possible to produce 200 superior seedlings from one seed in one year at 80% survival rate through in vitro clonal propagation while conventionally it takes at least 5-6 years to generate 15-36 seedlings at 60-93% germination rate.
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