Tissue culture technique for clonal propagation of nipa palm (Nypa fruticans Wurmb., Arecaceae) from embryo culture
2015
Lapitan, V.C. | Nicolas, K.L.C. | Rasco, E.T., Jr.
In the Philippines, nipa palm (Nypa fruticans Wurmb., Arecaceae) has been identified as an important source of biofuel. It produces high amount of sap that can be converted to bioethanol. 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 to produce such materials over a short period of time. This is the first attempt to develops a micropropagation techniques for nipa using in vitro cultured embryos from mature fruits. Washing of explants with high amount of powdered detergent prior to sterilization under aseptic condition resulted to significant increase in decontamination percentage. Modified Euwens (MY3) basal medium enhanced higher percentage of embryo germination than MS medium. Addition of coconut water did not increase germination rate but it promoted a healthy development of shoots with normal leaves. Clonal propagation was performed on plantlets with 2-3 primordial leaves through cutting along the shoots apical meristem. Clones were generated after 3 months on MY3 medium with higher concentration of cytokinin than auxin. Through this technique, it is possible to produce 600 superior plants from one fruiting head per year at 80% survival while conventionally, 54-85 seedlings can be generated from the same number of fruit at 60-93% germination.
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