MICROPROPAGATION OF LISIANTHUS (EUSTOMA GRANDIFLORUM), AN ORNAMENTAL PLANT

Lisianthus ( Eustoma grandiflorum) is an ornamental plant with beautiful flowers. Micropropagation is a powerful tool for large-scale propagation of ornamental plants. The shoot tips explants from Lisianthus were cultured on MS medium supplemented with concentrations of 0, 0.5, 1 and 2 mg/L of NAA and KIN. Here, we present a simple and reliable strategy for micropropagation of Eustoma grandiflorum in presence of the single growth regulator, KIN, which enables the production of stock plants. Multiple shoots containing roots can be obtained simultaneously on MS basal medium only supplemented with 0.5-1 mg/L KIN. Shoot tips media supplemented with 1 mg/L KIN without NAA resulted in the best shoot length per explant (2.058 cm) and shoot number per explant (2.62). Also, the most number of nodes per explant (8.86) was obtained in medium containing 0.5 mg/L KIN without NAA. The highest root number per shoot (2.40) was seen in medium supplemented with 2 mg/L KIN + 0.5 mg/L NAA. Shoot tips grown in medium containing 2 mg/L NAA without KIN showed the most callus formation. The results of this study revealed that the best shoot proliferation was achieved in MS medium supplemented with 0.5 or 1 mg/L KIN without NAA. Regenerated plants were transferred to peat and perlite (1:1) after hardening and they showed 100% survival.