Propagation of Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) Cultivar Jawzi Using Shoot Tip

Abstract

This study reports the successful establishment of a somatic embryogenesis technique for the mass production of a date palm Jawzi cultivar using shoot tip explants. The shoot tip, leaf primordia, and the ground of apical meristems were utilised as explants in the research. The study involved the utilisation of various types of media. It began with initiation media (IM), which had two stages for inducing embryogenesis. This was followed by multiplication media (MM), then elongation shoot media (EM), and finally rooting media (RM) and acclimatization. Embryo induction in the different media types required 50-53 weeks. The first stage, IM2, (3.0 mg.l-l 2iP, 10.0 mg.l-l NAA and 5.0 mg.l-l 2,4-D) for 12 weeks. This was followed by the second stage, IM3, which lasted for 38-41 weeks and included 1.0 mg.l-l BAP, 1.5 mg.l-l 2iP, and 1.0 mg.l-l NAA. These stages enabled us to achieve the optimal value for embryo induction. Afterward the MM3 (0.5. mg.l-l BAP, 0.5 mg.l-l 2iP and 0.5 mg.l-l KIN) showed the highest percentage of total counts of embryo multiplication, while the highest shoot length was attained on EM1 (1.0. mg.l-l BAP, 1.0 mg.l-l KIN and 0.1 mg.l-l IBA). The results also highlighted that RM1 (0.1 mg.l-l BAP, 0.1 mg.l-l KIN,1.0 mg.l-l NAA and 0.5 mg.l-l IBA) showed the highest roots length and roots number, in conclusion, these findings emphasise the importance of media composition in tissue culture protocols. Evaluating the effects of specific media components on different aspects of plant development can optimise tissue culture protocols for plant propagation.