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Title

In vitro morphogenesis of organogenic nodules derived from Sclerocarya birrea subsp. caffra leaf explants.

Authors

Mack Moyo; Jeffrey Finnie; Johannes Van Staden

Abstract

Abstract   Sclerocarya birrea (marula) is an indigenous South African tree with highly valued medicinal and nutritional properties. Induction of nodular meristemoids from leaf explants was achieved on Murashige and Skoog (MS) and woody plant medium (WPM) supplemented with 6-benzyladenine (BA) in combination with naphthalene acetic acid (NAA), indole-3-butryric acid (IBA) and indole-3-acetic acid (IAA). Induction of nodular meristemoids from 86% of the leaf cultures was achieved on MS medium with 4.0 μM BA and 1.0 μM NAA. High levels (78–100%) of induction were also achieved on WPM with different concentrations of BA (1.0–4.0 μM) and IBA (1.0–4.0 μM). The highest conversion of meristemoids into shoots was only 22% for 4.0 μM BA and 1.0 μM NAA on MS initiation medium. This was improved to 62% when nodular clusters were cultured in a MS liquid medium. Histological studies revealed the globular stage of the nodular meristemoids. This protocol has potential for application in mass micropropagation and plant breeding of S. birrea.

Subjects

SOUTH Africa; PLANT morphogenesis; SCLEROCARYA birrea; CELL separation; PLANT cells & tissues; PLANT diseases; HERBAL medicine; PLANT nutrition

Publication

Plant Cell, Tissue & Organ Culture, 2009, Vol 98, Issue 3, p273

ISSN

0167-6857

Publication type

Academic Journal

DOI

10.1007/s11240-009-9559-1