Effect of explant and phytohormone on in vitro regeneration of Solanum indicum, an important medicinal weed

Abstract

The aim of this study was to observe the effect of different explants viz. apical shoot, nodal stem and leaf of Solanum indicum and the concentration of phytohormones on tissue culture responses during the in vitro regeneration and development of micropropagation protocol. For primary establishment of explants, 0.1% HgCl2 solution for 5 minutes was found to be most effective for surface sterilization and Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium having 3 mg/l kinetin and 3 mg/l 6-benzylaminopurine was found to be the best for all the explants. Among all three explants, leaf explants showed the best primary establishment. The explants showed callus formation after 10 to 12 days of culture. The frequency of callus formation was higher on MS medium supplemented with 3 mg/l 3-indoleacetic acid and 5 mg/l 6-benzylaminopurine by the leaf explant. The highest frequency of shooting was recorded on MS medium with 3 mg/l kinetin and 2mg/l 6-benzylaminopurine. Apical shoot showed higher potential of shooting than nodal stem and leaf explants. The in vitro regenerated elongated shoots were then excised from shoot clumps and transferred to rooting medium containing Indole butyric acid at 1.5 mg/l. The in vitro regenerated plantlets were shifted to the polycups having mixture of sterilized soil and farm yard manure in 1:1 ratio. Initially, these plants were kept under high humidity and progressively acclimatized to reduced humidity for their hardening and acclimatization. Plantlets, thus developed, were successfully established and finally transferred to a greenhouse.