An efficient in vitro shoot regeneration protocol from embryo explants of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

Abstract

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is an important grain legume in the world. Development of reliable tissue culture protocols is very important for genetic transformation studies. Direct shoot bud differentiation and multiple shoot induction from embryonal axes explants of chickpea varieties with combination of growth regulators in NBeG-3 and NBeG-72 was tried at Regional Agricultural Research Station, Nandyal in 2015-16. Explants were cultured on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium augmented with different concentrations of Benzyl amino purine (BAP), Napthalene acetic acid (NAA), Kinetin and Indole acetic acid (IAA). The frequency of shoot bud regeneration was influenced by the preconditioning of explants with 6mg/l BAP and 0.5mg/l thidiazuron (TDZ) for 10 days resulted in enhanced frequency of multiple shoots. Among the various concentrations tested, 4.0 mg/l BAP and 2.0 mg/l Napthalene acetic acid (NAA) were found to be the best for maximum shoot bud differentiation. Elongation of multiple shoots were obtained in MS medium with the concentration 0.5 mg/l gibberillic acid (GA3). Among the tested varieties there was a variation in regeneration ability with fastest shoot bud initiation (18.5 days), and highest number of shoots per explant (5.3) and highest shoot length (3.5 cm) in NBeG 3.