Impact of silver nitrate on the survival and regeneration potential of explants of Hippophae salicifolia (Seabuckthorn) D. Don

Abstract

Hippophae salicifolia D. Don is an important plant of manifold benefits ranges from ecological refurbishment to socioeconomic development in their growing provinces. In vitro propagation practices in H. salicifolia hindered by various obstacles, among them explant necrosis or mortality is most important, especially when mature plants are the source for explants and in that case ethylene production by explants was supposed to be the main culprit. In this study, full strength Woody Plan medium with various hormonal combinations fortified with different silver nitrate/ AgNO3 concentrations of 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 mg/L utilized to assess the impact of AgNO3 on survival and other developmental parameters in H. salicifolia mature and seedling explants. Silver nitrate efficiently controlled necrosis and reduced the explant mortality in the culture by enhancing survival percentages of the explants to the 80 ± 1.00 % in mature explants and 96 ± 0.45 %in seedling explants with supplementation of 2 mg/L in hormonal combination i.e., 15.0 mg/L BAP + 5.0 mg/L IAA + 2.0 mg/L GA3. Silver nitrate significantly influenced the development of average shoot numbers in seedling explants with highest average shoot number 53.4 ± 2.70 at 2 mg/L AgNO3 supplementation with hormonal combination 15.0 mg/L BAP + 5.0 mg/L IAA + 2.0 mg/L GA3, although shoot regeneration from mature explant remained modest to AgNO3 supplementations. In vitro generated shoots grown in media supplemented with silver nitrate when subjected for rooting, they failed to induce roots in rooting media.