The effects of ancymidol and sucrose concentrations on growth of breadfruit Artocarpus altilis (Park.) Fosberg: shoot culture for In vitro preservation.

Breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis (Park.) Fosberg.) is one of the plants, which is being used for food, timber, medicine, and dye for textiles. Its fruit is an alternative to staple food having high content of carbohydrates. Breadfruit seeds are recalcitrant and cannot be dried or frozen for storage, thus application to ex situ conservation through in vitro techniques are required to support existing and strengthening collections germplasm resources. In vitro preservation through the application of minimal medium compositions and growth retardant becomes imperative, enabled as a possible solution for mid- to long term conservation of plant materials in limited space and at reduced costs too. Slow growth tissue cultures allow clonal plant conservation for several months to years under aseptic conditions, requiring the infrequent consecutive transfers of the cultures. This research aimed to evaluate the effect of ancymidol (0; 0.75; 1.5; 3.0; 6.0 mg/l) and sucrose (15; 30; 45 g/l) concentrations added to Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium on growth of A. altilis (Park.) Fosberg. The experiment used a completely randomized design with three replicates. Each replicate consisted of three explants. The parameters observed were shoot length; leaf number; leaf length; leaf width; number of shoot and root; root length; and shoot diameter recorded every month until 7 months of culture. The results showed that 100% survival of all explants were found after seven months of culture. MS medium containing 1.5 mg/l ancymidol enhanced shoot, root, and leaf number, however lead to reduce length of shoot and root; length and width of leaf. High sucrose concentration (45 g/l) in MS medium induced shoot formation of explant. Half strength of the normal concentration of sucrose (15 g/l) inhibited growth of shoot. This finding indicated that ancymidol and sucrose concentrations could be adjusted for in vitro preservation of A. altilis shoot culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]