Plant Tissue Cult. 9(2) : 113-120, 1999 (December)

Effects of Gamma-ray Irradiation and Ethyl Methane Sulphonate on In vitro Regeneration in Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.)

P. Venkatachalam¹, N. Geetha¹, N. Jayabalan and A. Saravanababu²

Department of Plant Science, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli-620 024, India

Key words: Arachis hypogaea, Mutagens, Regeneration, Multiple shoots

Abastract

Cotyledonary calli of two cultivars of Arachis hypogaea L. were exposed to 0 to 250 Gy gamma rays and treated with 0 to 25 mM EMS. Both the treatments stimulated the shoot bud regeneration frequency as well as the number of shoots per regenerating callus in lower doses/concentrations. Both callus growth and plant regeneration capacity increased with increasing GR and EMS treatments in lower level which declined at higher levels. A higher dosage/concentration induced browning of the callus culture but this colour change was not lethal to cells. The number of shoots increased three times in treated cultures than the controle. This indicates that multiple shoots induction and plant regeneration can be enhanced considerably by using lower doses/concentrations of mutagens.

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