Micropropagation and Cormels Production in Gladiolus spp. Var. Oscar

Abstract

Plant tissue culture techniques are used for the micropropagation of Gladiolus, Oscar variety, using axillary buds of the flower stalks, axillary buds of corms and cormels. It was aimed to design production program for micropropagation and cormels production all year round. This work included many experiments. The effect of Benzyl adenine (BA) and Kinetin (Kin) and the interaction between BA and Naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) on shoot proliferation, the effect of BA on shoot multiplication, the effect of NAA on rooting after 30, 40 and 50 days, were studied. The role of the composed (Peatmoss only, Peatmoss: sand, sand only) in plantlet survival during acclimatization was also studied. Results showed that BA supplemented to the medium at 2.0 mgl induced shoot proliferation from axillary buds of flower stalks, giving an average shoot height of 2.5 cm. while reached 7.4 cm. in shoots induced from axillary buds of corms on a combination of 0.05 mgl NAA and 0.4 mgl BA. In cormels, the best response occurred at concentration of 1.0 mgl Kin giving average shoot length of (6.5 cm.). Maximum average of shoot number and length at the multiplication stage occurred at 0.75 mgl BA in axillary buds taken from both flower stalks and corms, while at 0.5 mgl in cormels. NAA at 1.0 mgl achieved the highest response in root number and length for all studied explants. Rooting percent, number and root length increased over time. Cormels formed 50 days after rooting reaching 100% cormels formation on all plantlets regenerated from the different explants under investigation. Peatmoss was found the best among the three tested media in sustaining plantlets survival.