Elite trees of Commiphora wightii (Arnott) Bhandari were selected from
the wild on the basis of their content of guggul, an oleoresin. The s
elected tree was micropropagated through forced axillary branching on
Murashige and Skoog's (MS) medium supplemented with benzyladenine (BA)
and kinetin. Highest frequency of shoot formation was achieved on MS
medium supplemented with 17.8 mu M BA, 18.6 mu M kinetin, 100 mg l(-1)
glutamine, 10 mg l(-1) thiamine HCl and 0.3% activated charcoal. Seas
onal changes affected the shoot proliferating potential of the initial
explants in vitro. Transfer of shoots to a medium containing a lower
concentration of BA (1.8 mu M) and kinetin (1.9 mu M) before rooting m
arkedly stimulated shoot elongation. Shoots could be rooted by treatin
g them with both indoleacetic acid and indolebutryic acid for 24 h in
darkness and transferring them to a low-salt basal medium with activat
ed charcoal. After rooting, transfer to a half-strength White's (modif
ied) medium was necessary for further development of the plantlet. Reg
enerated plantlets were successfully established in soil.