Plant regeneration in Curcuma species and assessment of genetic stability of regenerated plants

Abstract

An efficient plant regeneration protocol was developed from rhizomes of two Curcuma species C. longa and C. amada. Response was highly dependent on the season, with above 69 % of culture developing adventitious shoots during spring. Greatest regeneration and multiplication was observed in modified Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with 13.31 μM benzyladenine and 2.68 μM α-naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) in C. longa or 2.46 μM indolebutyric acid in C. amada. Effect of sugars and agar at different concentrations were also studied and 2 % maltose and 0.7 % agar were found optimum for shoot multiplication and regeneration. Most plantlets developed roots simultaneously but others formed roots when subcultured in 1/2 MS medium supplemented with 2.68 μM NAA. Plants were successfully hardened in greenhouse with 80 % survival. The genetic purity of micropropagated plantlets was analyzed using RAPD and protein profiles. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.