Micropropagation procedures for Leontochir ovallei

Abstract

Leontochir ovallei Phil., an endangered Chilean species in the Alstroemericeae, was micropropagated on Murashige & Skoog medium supplemented with 4 #M benzyladenine, 1 #M indolebutyric acid and 1 46 mg 1-1 glutamine. Over 88% of the shoots rooted in vitro when treated with 10 #M naphthaleneacetic acid and micropropagated plantlets were successfully transplanted into the greenhouse.Abbreviations: BA-benzyladenine, IBA -indolebutyric acid, 2iP-isopentenyladenine, NAA -naphthaleneacetic acid, MS -Murashige and Skoog (1962) mediumLeontochir is one of the two genera in the Alstroemericeae that has not been cultivated (Bailey & Bailey 1976). Leontochir ovallei Phil. is commonly grown in the rocky mountains in the northern part of Chile and is becoming rare and endangered. Its attractive flowers are believed to have special aphrodisiac functions which attract Chileans to pick the flowers; this harvesthag prevents the plant from going to seed and can also damage the rhizomes.Micropropagation has been successfully applied in the propagation ofAlstroemeria (Bridgen et al. 1991), but no studies have been documented for Leontochir. A practical micropropagation procedure would be useful to conserve this endangered species since seed propagation and conventional vegetative propagation are slow.Leontochir ovaUei has been successfully micropropagated. Seeds of L. ovallei were disinfected by immersion in 2.6% sodium hypochlorite for 15 minutes, followed by 3 rinses with sterile deionized water. Aseptic seedlings were then cultured on a medium containing 1/10 Murashige and Skoog (1962) salts (MS) and vitamins and 0.3% sucrose. Plants were subsequently subcultured on a medium of MS salts and vitamins supplemented with 1 #M BA for further shoot proliferation and rooting studies.Three types of cytokinins: BA, 2iP, and kinetin each at four concentrations, 0, 2, 4, and 8 #M, were studied for their effects on shoot proliferation. A basal medium of MS salts and vitamins supplemented with 1 #M IBA, 146 mg 1-1 glutamine, 30 g 1-1 sucrose, at pH 5.6 was used. The media were solidified with a combination of 3.2 g agar (Sigma, A-1296) and 0.8 g Phytagel (Sigma, P-8169) per liter. All cytokinins were filterTable 1. Number of newly regenerated shoots and average relative growth rate (RGR) from the cytokinin treatments after 4 weeks of culture I Cyto~nin Sh~tno. 2 RG~ BA 3.6a 0.28a Kine~ 1.8b 0.21b 2~ 1.6b 0.~ b I Mean separation within columns by using LSD (p -0.05). 2 Data were ~asformed by square root (x + 0.5) before analysis. Nonlransformed data are presented. 3 Relative growth rate -(In FRWTIIn FR~tTo)/(tl -tO) ,

Sexual and asexual reproductive aspects of Leontochir ovallei, a rare and endangered geophyte of the Atacama Desert

“…Only one previous study investigated the germination of L. ovallei seeds, but did not report seed germination requirements [17]. Asexual propagation of Alstroemeriaceae species by dividing their rhizomes is the method most frequently used [18].…”

Micropropagation of <i>Sphaeranthus amaranthoides</i> Burm. f. – A multipurpose medicinal herb

“…Reports of in vitro plant regeneration from tissues of medicinal plants are available (Hiraoka and Oyanagi, 1988;Lu et al, 1995;Gururaj et al, 2004;Vidya et al, 2005;George et al, 1993;Budzianowsku et al, 2004 andJawahar et al, 2004). However, there is no report in Sphaeranthus amaranthoides.…”

Propagation Studies on Chilean Geophytes

“…The biological study of the Chilean geophytes is necessary both for their domestication and for their ex situ conservation. Although studies about flowering physiology have been conducted in Leucocoryne (Kim and Ohkawa, 1998;Kim et al, 1998a;Kroon, 1989;Ohkawa et al, 1998), and Zephyra Kim et al, 1996Kim et al, , 1998b, few studies have been conducted with either seed or vegetative multiplication of Chilean geophytes (Thompson and Newman, 1979;King and Bridgen, 1990;Bridgen, 1991;Lu et al, 1995;De la Cuadra et al, 2002).…”