The role of cysteine in improving somatic embryos of salak Sidempuan (Salacca sumatrana Becc.)

Abstract

In vitro study of Salak propagation has been conducted, with the aim to obtain the effect of some amino acids in inducing somatic embryos formation. The experimental design used was Completely Randomized Design, with treatment by varying cysteine concentration (0, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 mg. L -1 ). The results showed that explants successfully proliferated and lead to callus with high potential to be cultured. All explants showed a fairly high survival rate close to 100%. Early callus formation also varied, the fastest growing callus was observed from 10.14 days of culture with the addition of 10 mg.L -1 cysteine. Callus formation in the form of embryogenic callus has high potential to grow into somatic embryos. In conclusion, the best medium formulation to form somatic embryos was obtained from cysteine-containing media with a concentration of 10 mg.L -1 .