In vitro regeneration and micrografting of shoots for enhancing survival and recovery of plants in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

A successful regeneration protocol relies on the number of surviving plants in soil that can be obtained. Low recovery of cultured plants on account of poor rooting is still a key restrictive factor for regeneration and transformation of chickpea. Induction of root organogenesis in chickpea is difficult and genotype dependent. The resulting loss of regeneration potential due to poor formation of roots is very high. Therefore, a rapid micro grafting technique, an alternative to robust rooting was developed to increase the recovery of complete plants in vitro. The micro grafting of in vitro regenerated shoots onto the rootstock grown in vivo proved to be simple and reliable method allowing up to 80% recovery of non-rooted shoots from culture of chickpea. Success of any given graft was directly related to scion size (2mm) and age of the rootstock (6–12 days). The method appeared to be genotype independent and will be useful as an alternative method of rooting of chickpea varieties showing poor rooting potential.