GENOTYPE-DEPENDENT MORPHOGENETIC POTENTIALITY OF VARIOUS EXPLANTS OF A FOOD LEGUME, THE PIGEON-PEA (CAJANUS-CAJAN L)

The morphogenetic response of various explants of seven different cult ivars of a food legume, the pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan. L.), has been s tudied. The stimulation and elongation of shoot buds into shoots deriv ed from the mature embryo axis and intact seed on Murashige and Skoog' s medium supplemented with 2.32 mu M kinetin and 22.2 mu M benzyladeni ne was found to be optimum in Murashige and Skoog's medium supplemente d with 0.46 mu M kinetin, 0.53 mu M naphthalene acetic acid, and 0.29 mu M gibberellic acid. Even though the response of these two explants for formation of shoot buds in all the genotypes is 30-100% depending on media composition, subsequent growth and elongation of these shoot buds into plants is genotype dependent and is restricted to two genoty pes. Cotyledon and epicotyl explants of pigeon pea cultivars on the ot her hand differentiated directly into four to eight and two to four sh oots, respectively, depending on the media composition and genotype. I n vitro rhizogenesis of regenerated shoots was 80% and the survival of these plantlets in the field was 70-80%.