Abstract
The dormant nature of Morinda citrifolia seeds is a limitation to its efficient in-vitro plantlet multiplication. Hence, the use of embryo culture for successful in-vitro culture initiation. Matured embryo of freshly collected noni seeds were cultured on Murashige and Skoog basal medium supplemented with kinetin (Kn) and Benzyl amino purine (BAP) in the range of A: control (no addition); B: 0.5 mg/l Kn+1.0 mg/l BAP; C: 1.0 mg/l Kn+2.0 mg/l Bap; D: 1.5 mg/l Kn+3.0 mg/l BAP and E: 2.0 mg/l Kn+4.0 mg/l BAP. The results at 4 weeks after inoculation (WAI) showed that germination was faster from medium A without hormone whereas highest percentage germination was obtained from both medium D and E with 80 %. Medium B and C had 65 % each while medium A gave the least (40%). The development of the plantlets showed that longest shoot (3.9 cm) from medium A was closely related to 3.58 cm from Medium B while root lengths (2.28 cm) and number of adventitious roots (26) from medium A were significantly higher than other media at 12 WAI. Highest number of nodes (2.25) obtained from medium D was comparable to Media C and B while medium A had the least at 12 WAI. Number of leaves obtained was similar between the media at 12 WAI. These results indicated that using embryo is reliable for fast in-vitro propagation and shoot development of noni plant with optimum cytokinins (0.5/1.0 mg/l Kn/BAP) application.
 Keywords: Culture initiation, Cytokinins, Embryo culture, Plantlet, Shoot development
Highlights
IntroductionThe species is of research interest because of its high medicinal and food value
Morinda citrifolia Linn most commonly known as noni or Indian mulberry is a fruit producing shrub of family Rubiaceae
Though rapid germination was observed in medium A, maximum germination (80 %) was observed in each of Murashige and Skoog (MS) media supplemented with 1.5 mg/l Kn+3.0 mg/l Benzyl amino purine (BAP) (Treatment D) and 2.0 mg/l Kn+4.0 mg/l BAP (Treatment E)
Summary
The species is of research interest because of its high medicinal and food value. Various parts of the species contained phytochemicals that made them suitable for treatment of different diseases and ailments (Assi et al, 2017). The species fruit is processed into juice of high economic value in the international market. The species propagation has been achieved in the past by either conventional or plant tissue culture techniques (Shekhawat et al, 2015; Jayaprakash et al, 2017). Of different invitro propagation protocols developed for the species, none employed the use of embryo for its culture. The present work aimed at assessing the in-vitro growth of matured noni embryo with a view to provide a reliable and effective culture initiation protocol for mass propagation of the species
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