Abstract
BackgroundMoringa stenopetala belongs to the flowering family Moringaceae and genus Moringa. It is often referred to as the East African Moringa tree because it is native only to southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya. The expansion of its cultivation and utilization throughout the world especially in Africa is becoming important. For such expansion, the existing propagation method is limiting, so it needs a good propagation system to supply enough planting material with a uniform genotype. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to optimize an in vitro shoot multiplication protocol for M. stenopetala by using shoot tip as explants.ResultsShoots were sterilized and cultured on Muraghige and Skoog (MS) medium for in vitro shoot initiation. For multiple shoot induction, the explants were cultured on MS medium supplemented with different concentrations of kinetin (0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5 mg/L) with Indole-3- butyric acid (IBA) or α -naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) (0.01, 0.1, 0.5 mg/L) and maintained at 25 ± 2 °C for four weeks. Rooting was achieved by culturing well developed shoots in half-strength MS medium containing IBA (0.1, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 mg/L), NAA (0.1, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 mg/L), and 0.5 mg/L IBA with NAA (0.1, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 mg/L). Statistical analysis revealed that there was a significant difference among all treatments applied in both shoot multiplication and rooting experiments. The maximum number of shoots per explant (3.43 ± 1.41) and 7.97 ± 4.18 leaves per explant were obtained on MS medium containing 0.5 mg/L kinetin with 0.01 mg/LNAA. The highest mean number of roots per shoot (1.63 ± 1.03) and mean root length (0.87 ± 1.22 cm) were obtained on MS medium containing 1.0 mg/LNAA and 0.1 mg/LIBA alone respectively. After acclimatization, 76% of plants were survived in the greenhouse.ConclusionIn general, using NAA with kinetin for shoot multiplication was effective than kinetin with IBA. On the other hand, the application of 1.0 mg/L NAA alone and 1.0 mg/L NAA with 0.5 mg/L IBA were more effective for root induction.
Highlights
Moringa stenopetala belongs to the flowering family Moringaceae and genus Moringa
The results of the present study showed that using naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) in combination with kinetin for shoot multiplication was better than kinetin in combination with Indole-3- butyric acid (IBA)
The Muraghige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with 0.5 mg/L kinetin combined with 0.1 mg/LNAA, 0.5 mg/L kinetin combined with 0.1 mg/L IBA, and 0.5 mg/L kinetin combined with 0.5 mg/L NAA gave the second (2.47 ± 1.36) and the third (2.30 ± 1.90), (2.33 ± 1.85) maximum mean shoot number respectively
Summary
Moringa stenopetala belongs to the flowering family Moringaceae and genus Moringa. It is often referred to as the East African Moringa tree because it is native only to southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya. M. stenopetala is a soft drought tolerant fast growing evergreen perennial flowering tree, well adapted to semiarid areas [2, 3]. Though it grows in many parts of the tropics, it is not as widely known as its close relative, Moringa oleifera, but often considered generally more desirable than M. stenopetala [4, 5]. It has some features similar to those of Brassicaceae and Capparidaceae but the seed structure does not agree with either of the above families This indicates that the taxonomic position of the family is not yet settled and is open for further studies. Its seed physiology is not yet studied in the tropics in general and Ethiopia in particular [8]
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