A Biotechnological Approach for the Production of Red Gerbera (Gerbera Jamesonii Bolus)

An in vitro propagation of a red Gerbera (Gerbera jamesonii) variety was achieved by culturing flower bud, leaf segments and flower stalk segments of 80 days old field grown plants on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with different concentration (1.0-6.0 mg/l) of 6-benzyl adenine (BA) in combination with single concentration (1.0 mg/l) of α-naphthalene acetic acid (NAA). Lower concentration of BA (1.0 and 2.0 mg/l) with NAA induced the explants to form callus. On the other hand when the explants were cultured in higher concentration (5.0 mg/l) of BA produced shoots and 5.0 mg/l BA with 1.0 mg/l NAA was found to be the best for shoot proliferation of the three explants optimum response was obtained from flower buds. Further multiplication of shoots occurred upon transfer of shoot clumps to BA containing MS medium. Regenerated shoots were rooted in MS medium with indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) or indole-3-buteric acid (IBA) and maximum frequency (81%) of rooting with highest number (4) of roots per shoot was achieved in MS medium fortified with 0.3 mg/l IBA. The rooted shoots were acclimatized and successfully established in soil under natural environment with maximum 84% survivability.