Plant Tissue Cult. 10(2) : 149-155, 2000 (December)

Tissue Culture Derived Plantlet Variation in Caladium bicolor L.-An Important Ornamental

A. Mujib¹, S. Bandyopadhyay² and P. D. Ghosh³

The Agri-Horticultural Society of India, Calcutta-700 027, India

Key words: Plantlet variation, Caladium bicolor, Ornamental

Abastract

On MS medium supplemented with different growth hormones, callus cultures were initiated from rhizomes of Caladium bicolor cv. ?Bleeding Heart?- a popular ornamental. Of the hormones tested, 2,4-D, NAA and BAP at lower concentrations were found to be very effective for both initiation and maintenance of callus. At the end of six- seven weeks, shoot buds differentiated. Compared to agar-solidified media, agitated liquid MS medium was found more suitable for generation of more shoot buds/callus mass. A sizable number of regenerated plantlets were found chlorophyll deficient concomitant with less vigour and growth in ex vitro while normal green plants with characteristic red pigment grew to maturity under outdoor conditions.

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