No abstract

The fern Asplenium nidus L. is in great demand as an ornamental plant. The aim of this work was to investigate the influence of phytohormones in promoting a gametophytic and sporophytic growth in homogenized sporophytes tissue. Exogenous application of 0.5 and 5 lM N 6 -benzyladenine, 0.05 and 0.5 lM indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), and 0.3 and 3 lM gibberellic acid (GA 3 ) favoured sporophyte regeneration, whereas gametophyte regeneration took place when plant material was cultured in a hormone-free liquid MS medium. The endogenous contents of the auxin IAA, the cytokinins trans-zeatin, transzeatin riboside, dihydrozeatin, dihydrozeatin riboside, isopentenyladenine and isopentenyladenosine, and the gibberellins GA 1 , GA 3 , GA 4 , GA 7 , GA 9 and GA 20 in growing gametophytes and sporophytes were evaluated. Similar levels of the auxin and cytokinins and qualitative differences in the gibberellins were found between both generations.