EFFECT OF RED-, FAR-RED- AND BLUE-LIGHT-EMITTING DI-ODES ON IN VITRO GROWTH OF FICUS BENJAMINA

Abstract

The effects of monochromatic blue, red and far-red light from commercial available light-emitting diode modules on the in vitro growth of Ficus benjamina ‘Exotica’ were compared with the effect of fluorescent light. The plants were micropropagated on a basal medium with 0.5 mg/L IAA and 2 mg/L BA. Our study showed that monochromatic blue, red and far-red and their combinations are suitable to manipulate the number of shoots, shoot length, shoot/callus weight ratio and leaf length/width ratio in Ficus benjamina. In general, the presence of blue light had a stimulating effect on the number of shoots, but also reduced shoot length. Grown under red light, the explants produced less but more elongated shoots. Blue light stimulated callus growth even in the presence of red light. Far-red had a negative effect on biomass production in general with a reduction in total number of shoots and both shoot cluster and callus weight. Under red and far-red light conditions, the morphology of the leaves was different from blue light conditions with an increase in relative leaf length as the most prominent characteristic.