CYTOKININS AND IN-VITRO INDUCTION OF FLOWERING IN BAMBOO - BAMBUSA ARUNDINACEA (RETZ.) WILLD

Four-week-old seedling explants of Bambusa arundinacea were cultured o n Murashige and Skoog (MS) basal medium with different cytokinins to s tudy the effect on in vitro induction of flowering, The cytokinins use d were adenine hemisulphate (AdS), 6-[gamma,gamma-dimethylallylamino]- purine (2iP), kinetin (Kin), zeatin individually and in combination wi th 6-benzyl adenine (BA), BA was found to be the only cytokinin induci ng flowering in vitro when added individually in the culture medium. T he induction of flowering ill media containing other cytokinins, when added individually, was not observed, However, induction of flowering was observed in all the cytokinin combinations whenever BA was added, Presence of BA in the culture medium was observed to be absolutely ess ential for induction of flowering. 2iP showed synergistic effect in co mbination with BA although it was ineffective in the presence of flowe r induction alone, while zeatin showed antagonistic effect on inductio n of flowering in combination with BA.