In Vitro Propagation Strategies for Elephant Foot Yam (Amorphophallus paeoniifolius (Dennst.) Nicolson

Abstract

In vitro propagation method using petiole and corm explants for the cultivated species of Amorphophallus paeoniifolius var. campanulatus (Decne) Sivad. cv. Gajendra is reported. The petiole slices cultured on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium containing 6-Benzyladenine (BA) and 1-Naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) produced callus within four weeks of culture. Continuous maintenance of original explant along with developed callus in respective medium showed initiation of adventitious shoot buds, roots and protocorm like bodies (PLB) or corm like structures (CLS). The CLS subsequently developed into complete plants. MS medium supplemented with NAA (2.5 μM) in combination with BA (5.0 μM) was identified as the best medium for CLS induction. Histological studies of the callus revealed three developmental stages. Complete plantlets were obtained from CLS within 16-24 weeks, by maintaining the culture continuously on the same combination of initiation medium. The culturing of apical bud explants of corms on BA or Thidiazuron (TDZ) in combination with NAA resulted in the proliferation of adventitious buds. But further development was arrested. The response of corm explants to callus induction and CLS formation was very slow as compared to petiole explants. The corm explant based propagation recorded less number of CLS compared to petiole based method. Thus, plant development through CLS from petiole explants can be adopted for the large scale production of plantlets.