<i>In vitro </i>regeneration of <i>Begonia rubrovenia</i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style:italic"> var. <i>meisneri</i> C.B. Clarke— A rare and endemic ornamental plant of Meghalaya, India</p>

Abstract

<i>In vitro </i>plant regeneration from leaf and petiole explants of <i>Begonia rubrovenia meisneri</i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style:italic"> C.B. Clarke, an endemic and rare plant of Meghalaya, has been established<i>. </i>Multiple shoots were induced on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with various concentrations of 6-benzyl aminopurine (BAP) and thidiazuron (TDZ). <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">I<span style="mso-bidi-font-style:italic">n vitro </span></i>produced leaf and petiole sections (secondary explants) exhibited enhanced shoot proliferation in MS medium supplemented with either BAP or TDZ in different concentrations (0.05-5.0 mg/L). A maximum, 65 shoots/petiole were formed on MS+0.1 mg/L TDZ. The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">in vitro</i>-raised shoots formed roots in MS medium containing 0.1 mg/L indole 3-acetic acid (IAA), with a maximum of 13.8 roots/shoot. About 73.33% of the 500 plantlets transferred acclimatized successfully within 4 wk in a glasshouse. On being transferred to the field, all the acclimatized plantlets survived after 8 wk.

</span></p>