Improvement of mangosteen micropropagation through meristematic nodular callus formation from in vitro-derived leaf explants

Abstract

A four-step procedure was used for plant regeneration from leaf explants (5–15 mm long) excised from in vitro grown plantlets of mangosteen. Leaf explants formed callus (66.8%) on Murashige and Skoog medium (MS) with 2.22 μM benzyladenine (BA) and 2.25 μM thidiazuron (TDZ) at 3 weeks of culture. The mean number of nodules in the calli on this medium after four serial subcultures was 4.45 nodules per explant. A mean number of 9.3 shoots per explant were induced on woody plant medium (WPM) supplemented with 0.44 μM BA. Shoot elongation (5–6 shoots per explant) at 80–90% was obtained by transferring shoot to the same medium overlayed with half strength liquid MS with 0.32 μM naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) and 0.13 μM BA. Shoots were successfully rooted at 68.2% on WPM with 1.11 μM BA plus 0.25% activated charcoal. The plantlets were successfully established in soil in pots after acclimatisation.