Chemical composition and in vitro propagation of Agave salmiana ‘Gentry’

Abstract

SummaryMaguey cv. ‘Manso’ (Agave salmiana ‘Gentry’) is the source of ‘aguamiel’ (honey water) for human consumption as a natural fortifying beverage, and of leaves for forage. Levels of iron and zinc in aguamiel are sufficient to satisfy daily human requirements, provided people consume approx. 850 ml aguamiel d–1. A. salmiana leaves can be used as a forage supplement to cover the requirements of cattle for minerals such as calcium, magnesium, zinc, iron and copper. Protein expression in honey water was analysed and a protein of approx. 16 kDa was obtained. According to their chemical composition, Agave leaves have high nutritional value as forage. A culture of A. salmiana ‘Gentry’ was initiated from stem explants on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with indoleacetic acid (IAA) and different concentrations of 6-benzyladenine (BA). Optimum numbers of shoots (20.3 ± 3.2) per explant were obtained with 2.0 mg l–1 BA plus 0.25 mg l–1 IAA. For rooting, shoots were cultivated on MS medium supplemented with different levels of IAA (0 – 1.0 mg l–1). The highest number of roots (4.0 ± 0.5) and the longest roots (16.6 ± 7.6 cm) were obtained with 0.2 mg l–1 IAA. All rooted plants were successfully adapted to field conditions. Regenerated plants were morphologically similar to field-grown mother plants.