High embryogenic ability and regeneration from floral axis of Amorphophallus konjac (Araceae)

Amorphophallus konjac (Araceae) a perennial herb, it has high medicinal and industrial value. In this study, a simple and efficient system for direct somatic embryogenesis and plantlet regeneration of Amorphophallus konjac was developed. The floral axis was used as the experimental material. The primary callus, developed from the floral axis grown on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with different hormone combination at different concentrations. The highest rate of embryogenic callus formation was observed on the MS medium containing 9.04 µM 2, 4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2, 4-D) and 5.37 µM naphthalene acetic acid (NAA). The maximum induction rate was 79.8%, and the embryogenic calli were able to subculture on a medium containing similar hormone combination for over 1 year. The calli were also placed on different media for regeneration and it produced complete plants with shoots and root systems simultaneously. The highest differentiation rate of the embryogenic calli grown on differentiation medium supplemented with 8.88 µM 6-benzylaminopurine (6-BA) and 5.37 µM NAA was 95.6%. Flow cytometry analysis showed no ploidy variation in all the regenerate plantlets.