Isolation of a White Flowered Mutant through Seed Culture in Spathoglottis plicata Blume

Abstract

Summary Spathoglottis plicata Blume, a terrestrial orchid having prolonged inflorescence with beautiful lilac (pinkish purple) coloured flowers, is commercially important. Treatment of its seeds with sodium azide induced strikingly attractive flower colour modification exploiting seed culture protocols. Vacin and Went (VW) (1949) medium stimulated seed germination and after supplementation with ripe banana extract yielded maximum germination frequency in all cases; it was followed with ripe tomato extract and yogurt water (semi-solid liquor from fermented milk) in untreated and post-treated seeds respectively. The magnitude, however, reduced in treated seeds. Germination initiated usually on the 20th day of inoculation, while addition of yogurt water induced earlier germination by 9 days in the treated and 7 days in untreated samples. Repeatedly subcultured 60 days old plantlets were gradually acclimatized growing inside a hardening chamber and subsequently in a glass house. A treated plant with deep green leaves showed conspicuous variation from the mother strain by its charming milk-white flower colour and green floral bracts in contrast to lilac coloured flower and floral bracts in the latter. VM 2 progeny retained the mutant phenotype and genetic uniqueness as indicated by specific PAGE protein banding profile. The mutant having completely different flower colour modification with milky whiteness possesses special floricultural significance and may, therefore, be treated as a new horticultural variety.

Evaluation of genetic variability in in vitro sodium azide-induced Dendrobium ‘Earsakul’ mutants

“…NaN 3 has been applied to improve agronomic/horticultural characteristics, yield, contents of fatty acid or anthocyanin, and resistance/tolerance to various abiotic/biotic stresses in several plants (Al-Qurainy and Khan, 2009). In the terrestrial orchid (Spathoglottis plicata), treating seeds with NaN 3 induced strikingly attractive flower color modifications (Roy and Biswas, 2005). In vitro mutagenesis, combining mutations with in vitro culture, enables the generation of sufficient variation in large populations of mutants to ensure the discovery of mutants with desirable trait(s), as well as rapid clonal multiplication (Khawale and Singh, 2006;Barakat and El-Sammak, 2011;Bidabadi et al, 2012).…”

Mutation Induction of Dendrobium ‘Earsakul’ Using Sodium Azide

“…In bluebell (Browallia speciosa), NaN 3 induced changes in flower color, flower shape, and leaf form (El-Mokadem and Mostafa, 2014). Whereas, in the terrestrial orchid (Spathoglottis plicata), NaN 3 induced strikingly attractive flower color modifications (Roy and Biswas, 2005). However, several factors, e.g., concentration, duration, pH, pre-and posttreatment, and temperature influence the effects of NaN 3 for inducing mutations.…”