Er. Morgan et al., IN-VITRO PROPAGATION OF GENTIANA-CERINA AND GENTIANA-CORYMBIFERA, New Zealand journal of crop and horticultural science, 25(1), 1997, pp. 1-8
The micropropagation of Gentiana cerina and G. corymbifera was investi
gated. Cultures were initiated from axillary shoots or seed. Seeds of
G. corymbifera germinated on a Murashige & Skoog (MS) medium containin
g 100 mg/litre gibberellic acid (GA(3)) with 54% of the seed germinati
ng within 70 days. In the absence of GA(3) germination did not exceed
5%. Both species proliferated shoots on MS medium supplemented with 6-
benzylaminopurine (BAP). For G. cerina there was no significant differ
ence in proliferation rates for BAP concentrations between 0.05 and 0.
5 mg/litre. In contrast G. corymbifera gave highest multiplication rat
es on 0.2 mg/litre BAP. Addition of 1 mg/litre GA(3) to the medium gav
e improved proliferation compared to treatments in which GA(3) was abs
ent. The best treatment for G. cerina resulted in a shoot multiplicati
on rate in excess of 7-fold after 50 days whereas for G. corymbifera t
his increase was more than 3-fold. Root initiation occurred on MS medi
um supplemented with indole-3-butyric acid (IBA). In both species the
frequency of explants with roots increased with increasing IBA concent
ration, but at IBA greater than or equal to 1 mg/litre and 3 mg/ litre
for G. cerina and G. corymbifera respectively a high proportion of th
e plants developed a basal callus. Survival of the G. cerina plants du
ring acclimatisation was related to IBA concentration but survival was
unrelated to IBA concentration for G. corymbifera. G. cerina survival
rates decreased from 80% with up to 0.3 mg/litre IBA to c. 5% at the
highest rate of IBA. For G. corymbifera average survival of plants aft
er acclimatisation was just over 20%. Thus root initiation with 0.3 mg
/litre IBA can be recommended for both species.