In vitro Propagation of <i>Citrus aurantifolia</i> and its Conservation in Pakistan

Abstract

Citrus varieties are propagated by both asexual and sexual methods. Generally, rootstocks are propagated sexually through seeds, while most of the commercial varieties are propagated by various asexual methods such as grafting and budding. The technology called plant tissue culture is used for commercial production of plants that are microbe and virus free and to save germplasm of infrequent or threatened species of plants. Fast reproduction techniques have the potential to produce plants free of viruses. Likewise, traditional propagation methods are old, time consuming and are difficult. Tissue culture techniques are assumed for reliable commercial production of economically important plants. In present study shoot tips of Citrus aurantifolia were collected from the field of BCI, NARC. Different disinfectant (Ethanol and NaOCl) with the concentration ranging from 10 to 20 percent were used for culture establishment. Maximum survival percentage was observed in 10% NaOCl. After 5 weeks, established cultures were shifted to hormonal growth media (BAP, GA3 and NAA) at the concentration ranging from 0.1 to 0.8 mg/L. Our finding results that maximum phenotypic characters (plant height, number of leaves and number of shoots were observed on BAP at the concentration of 0.1 to 0.3 mg/L, while maximum number of roots were observed on NAA at the concentration of 0.5mg/L. In present study, for in vitro conservation different conservants like sorbitol and mannitol (10, 20 and 30 g/L) were used. Incubation of cultures was maintained at 21°C under the light intensity of 1000 lux. Old cultures of Citrus aurantifolia were shifted in conservant media. Overall, remarkable difference was observed. In present study mannitol at the concentration of (10, 20 and 30 g/L) showed slow growth after 35 days. In future the plants in conservation media will be used for further propagation and for growing them in fields.