ANNOUNCEMENTS
Bambusa balcooa and Bambusa nutans are two of the priority species according to the Planning Commission, Govt. of India. Due to their multifarious uses, the demand for these two species is rising but the supply is inadequate due to long vegetative periods coupled with slow methods of vegetative propagation.
In the present study, we have established efficient protocols for in vitro propagation of clonally uniform plants of B. balcooa and B. nutans through axillary shoot proliferation. We believe that high multiplication rate, rooting frequency and field survival achieved in the present study would help in meeting the increasing demand of disease-free, true-to-type superior quality planting material.
In vitro shoot proliferation of B. balcooa was achieved by culturing single node segments in liquid MS basal medium supplemented with 6.6μM BAP, 2.3μM Kn, 2.5% v/v CW, 100mg/l myo-inositol and 3% w/v sucrose. On this medium a consistent shoot proliferation rate of 4.11 fold was obtained on a recurrent basis. For in vitro rooting, clusters of 5-8 shoots were cultured in MS½ (major salts reduced to half strength) medium supplemented with 5.71μM IAA, 4.9μM IBA, 5.37μM NAA and 3% sucrose. On this medium 87.5% rooting was achieved within 21 days ofculturing. Following a simple hardening procedure involving sequential transfer of tissue-cultured plants to greenhouse, polyhouse and shade net, the plants were transferred to the field with 100% success.
Shoot multiplication of B. nutans was achieved by culturing singe node segments derived from field-grown clump in liquid MS basal medium supplemented with 13.2μM BAP, 2.3μM Kn, 0.9μM IBA and 3% sucrose. A consistent shoot multiplication rate of 3 fold was obtained on this medium. 100% rooting was achieved within 21 days by culturing the in vitro formed shoot clusters on MS½ liquid medium supplemented with 9.8μM IBA, 2.85μM IAA, 2.68μM NAA and 3% sucrose. Following a hardening procedure similar to that described for B. balcooa, the tissue-cultured plants were transferred to the field where the survival was 100%. Inter Simple Sequence Repeat (ISSR) analysis has confirmed genetic uniformity of tissuecultured plants in both the species.
The tissue cultured plants were taken to study the effect of application of Vesicular Arbuscular Mycorrhiza (VAM) on the growth of plants. Mycorrhizal application showed improvement in all the growth parameters viz. number and length of culms, root length and shoot dry weight. The present protocols developed for in vitro propagation of B. balcooa and B. nutans can be used for mass propagation of both the priority species. Hence, bridging the gap between the demand and supply of planting material of the two species.
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