Effect of Phenological Growth Stage on Establishment of In-vitro Cultures of Bael (<i>Aegle marmelos</i> (L.) Corr.)

Abstract

Bael (Aegle marmelos (L.) Corr.) is a medicinal fruit tree species belongs to the family Rutaceae grown in South Asian countries including India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. It is an underutilized fruit species in Sri Lanka, although it has food as well as medicinal value with a good economic potential. Popularizing bael as a profitable cash crop is often hindered by the limited availability of high quality planting material. In Sri Lanka, five elite bael accessions namely Beheth Beli, Paragammana, Mawanella, Rambukkana and Polonnaruwa Supun have been identified and used for mass propagation through budding and grafting. But this effort is often hampered by many limitations faced in large scale production. Micropropagation is an alternative technique to produce clonal plants in large scale. However, the complex phenological behaviour of the bael trees could affect its success. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to identify the correct phenological stage of bael trees to collect explants for the micropropagation. Leaves and twig explants were collected for micropropagation from five elite bael accessions during the period of July, 2016 to June, 2017 on monthly basis to capture the best phenological stage. The Beheth Beli tree and grafted plants of other four accessions were established at the Fruit Crop Research and Development Institute, Department of Agriculture, Sri Lanka. The surface sterilized explants were established on Murashige and Skoog medium supplemented with 1 mg/L of 6-Benzylaminopurine, 3% sucrose, solidified with phytogel. A successful organogenesis was only observed in explants collected in the months of April, May and June (39 to 68 %) where there was no significant difference in success was observed between the leaf and twig explants (P>0.05). However, grafted bael accessions exhibited a significantly different mean success percentage in organogenesis where Paragammana and Rambukkana accessions showed a high success for leaf explants and Mawanella and Rambukkana accessions showed a high success for twig explants. These results could be readily employed to multiply the elite bael accessions in Sri Lanka.

Establishment of a Micropropagation Protocol for Elite Accessions of Bael (Aegle marmelos (L.) Corr.), a Tropical Hardwood Species

“…e ideal phenological stage of bael accessions in Sri Lanka to collect explants for successful micropropagation is between April and June when there is a predominant vegetative growth [17].…”

“…e study was conducted at the Tissue Culture Laboratory of the Department of Crop Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. e explants from the mother plant of BB were collected from FCRDS (GPS coordinates: 7.277006, 80.595299) during the vegetative growth stage (April-June, 2018) [17]. All the investigations on sterilization and identification of the specific growth stage for culture establishment were conducted using BB mother plants.…”

Bael (Aegle marmelos L. Corrêa), a Medicinal Tree with Immense Economic Potentials

“…Using 8-10 mm sized explants of auxiliary and terminal buds taken from elite bael trees were tissue cultured by Arya and Shekhawat [100]. Juvenile buds must be taken at the vegetative stage of the tree [101] to improve the success rate, and 100 mg/L ascorbic acid and 150 mg/L citric acid were used in combination to avoid browning. e Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium with 5 mg/l, 2-4D, and NAA was used for the induction of callus.…”