Key words: Fruit tree; in vi tro growth; Photoautotrophic mul ti pli ca tion; Car bon di ox ide en richment
Ab stractThe ef fect of con trolled car bon di ox ide en vi ron ment on in vi tro shoot growth and mul ti pli ca tion in Feronia limonia (a trop i cal fruit plant, Fam ily-Rutaceae) was stud ied. Car bon di ox ide available in the am bi ent air of the growth room was in suf fi cient for in vi tro growth of the shoots alone. Also, the pres ence of su crose only as the C-source in the me dium (with out CO 2 ), was found to be in ad e quate for sus tain able growth and mul ti pli ca tion of shoots. The car bon di ox ide en rich ment pro moted shoot mul ti pli ca tion and over all growth. The promotory ef fect of CO 2 was in de pend ent of the pres ence of su crose in the me dium. In the pres ence of both CO 2 and su crose, an ad di tive ef fect was ob served pro duc ing maxi mum shoot growth. In the ab sence of su crose a higher con cen tration of CO 2 (10.0) g·m -3 was re quired to achieve photoautotrophic shoot mul ti pli ca tion com pa ra ble to am bi ent air con trols. High est leaf area per shoot clus ter pro mot ing shoot growth and mul ti pli cation was re corded un der this treat ment. Shoots grow ing on su crose con tain ing me dium un der con trolled CO 2 en vi ron ment of 0.6 g·m -3 con cen tra tion evoked better re sponse than am bi ent air controls (shoots grow ing on su crose con tain ing me dium) in growth room. This treat ment pro duced the over all best re sponse. The pres ent study high lighted the pos si bil ity of photoautotrophic multi pli ca tion which might prove use ful for suc cess ful hard en ing and ac cli ma ti za tion in tis sue cul ture plants.List of ab bre vi a tions: BA -6-benzyladenine, Kn-Kinetin, NAA-α-Napthalene ace tic acid, KHCO 3 -po tas sium bi car bon ate, K 2 CO 3 -potas sium car bon ate, KOH -po tas sium hy drox ide, MS -Murashige and Skoog, Na 2 CO 3 -so dium car bon ate, NaHCO 3 -so dium bi car bon ate, SM -stan dard mul ti pli ca tion me dium, SCSM -sucrose con tain ing stan dard mul ti pli ca tion medium, SFSM -su crose-free stan dard mul ti pli cation me dium
In tro duc tionCar bon di ox ide and light are im por tant for growth and de vel op ment of plants (Dur ing and Harst 1996). Dur ing in vi tro cul ture, the growth of chlorophyllous leafy shoots is ad versely affected if ex ter nal source of car bon is not added in the me dium as the CO 2 con cen tra tion in the culture ves sel sig nif i cantly de pletes dur ing light period (Kozai et al. 1992). Al though there is ac cumu la tion of CO 2 in the ves sel dur ing dark pe riod (upto 5-10 mM·mol -1 ) this con cen tra tion soon di min ishes (to less than 100 µM·mol -1 ) with the in cep tion of photoperiod. To com pen sate the require ment of CO 2 , su crose is added in the cul ture me dium as an al ter nate source of car bon in all the 605 ACTA PHYSIOLOGIAE PLANTARUM