Somatic embryogenesis of Eleusine coracana on inducted seed explants

Abstract

Abstract. Gebremedhen H, Feyissa T. 2021. Somatic embryogenesis of Eleusine coracana on inducted seed explants. Cell Biol Dev 5: 26-31. Finger millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.) is one of the most important crops in Africa and India. E. coracana contains different nutrients and is a popular food among diabetic patients in different countries. E. coracana is an orphan crop in the developing world on which little research has been done. The improvement of this crop is crucial for abiotic and biotic stress tolerance. Tissue culture and transformation techniques are among the approaches to improve this crop. Therefore, the objective of this study is to develop an efficient somatic embryogenesis protocol for the regeneration of different E. coracana cultivars. Somatic embryogenesis protocol for regeneration of four cultivars of E. coracana is developed. For all cultivars, mature seeds were used for callus induction. After sterilization of the seeds, callus was induced efficiently in different concentrations of 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) in all cultivars. From 95 to100% callus induction were recorded on callus induction medium containing 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5 and 3.0 mg/L 2,4-D. MS-medium supplemented with 1 mg/L 2,4-D resulted in 45 to 58.3% somatic embryogenesis, and 1 mg/L KN in combination with 0.25 mg/L NAA resulted in the highest mean number (15.85±0.63) of shoots and 16.74±1.86 roots were recorded from AAUFM-19.