Micropropagation of Curcuma zedoaria Roscoe and Zingiber zerumbet Smith

• Published in: Biotechnology (Faisalābād, Pakistan) Vol. 6; no. 4; pp. 555 - 560
• Main Authors: Stanly, C, Keng, CL
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.12.2007
• Subjects: Curcuma; Zingiber zerumbet
• ISSN: 1682-296X
• DOI: 10.3923/biotech.2007.555.560

The aim of study is to establish a micropropagation protocol that can be applied to both C. zedoaria and Z. zerumbet for the germblasm conservation of these two species. Buds from rhizomes were used to establish the in vitro plantlets of C. zedoaria and Z. zerumbet. The shoot explants of the in vitro plantlets of both species that were cultured in liquid medium produced twice the number of shoots than those cultured in solid medium of the same composition. The aseptic shoots of C. zedoaria plantlets that were cultured on MS solid medium supplemented with 0.5 mg L super(-1) BA and 0.5 mg L super(-1) IBA (shoot proliferation medium) produced 2.3 shoots per explant while those cultured in the liquid MS medium with same combination of plant growth regulators produced 6.1 shoots per explant. For Z. zerumbet, each shoot explant produced 3.9 shoots when they were cultured in the solid proliferation medium while an average of 6.4 shoots could be induced form each shoot explant when cultured in liquid medium. Half-shoot of C. zedoaria produced significantly higher number of shoots than undivided or whole shoots after culturing in the liquid shoot proliferation medium for 4 weeks. An average of 5.9 shoots could be produced from each half shoot which was equivalent to 12 shoots obtained from a single shoot. All the in vitro plantlets of both species survived after acclimatization and transferred to the soil.