Surface Sterilization for Reducing Microbial Contamination in In Vitro Propagation of Lasora (Cordia myxa Roxb.) Using Nodal Segments

Abstract

Lasora (Cordia myxa Roxb.) is commonly grown as minor or underexploited crop having great medicinal and food value which belongs to the family Boraginaceae, originates along the Himalayan tract upto 1,500 metres. In-vitro technique is accepted widely to produce virus free plants in a very large number. Production of virus free planting material using meristem culture has been made possible in this crop. An experiment entitled “Surface sterilization for reducing microbial contamination in In-vitro propagation of lasora (Cordia myxa Roxb.) using nodal segments” was conducted at Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi during 2015-16 which aims to elucidate standardization of sterilization process through various concentration of HgCl2 at 0.1% and NaOCl at 1% concentration followed by 70% ethanol in lasora. The effect of various exposure time of HgCl2 and NaOCl on different explants was studied and found to be best when explants treated with HgCl2 (0.1%) for 10 minutes, resulted 85.50 per cent aseptic culture and 83.25 per cent survival of explants. Whereas, maximum aseptic culture was found with 1% sodium hypochloride when treated for 21 minutes followed by 70% ethanol for 30 sec This can be explained by the fact that requirements for surface sterilization are different and depend on the tissue type and the nature of the explants used for in-vitro propagation.