Hort. Sci. (Prague), 2007, 34(3):114-122 | DOI: 10.17221/1889-HORTSCI

In vitro selection of NaHCO₃ tolerant cultivars of Morus alba (Local and Sujanpuri) in response to morphological and biochemical parameters

P. Ahmad¹, S. Sharma¹, P. S. Srivastava²

¹ Centre for Rural Development and Technology, Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, India

² Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Science, Hamdard University, New Delhi, India

In vitro experiments were conducted to study the effect of NaHCO₃ (alkalinity) stress on saplings of Morus alba (cv. Local and Sujanpuri) cultured from nodal explants. For shoot multiplication 2.5 mg/l of 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP) with 0.3 mg/l gibberellic acid (GA₃) were used and root formation was induced with 1.0 mg/l of indolebutyric acid (IBA). NaHCO₃ salt was added to the culture medium in three concentrations, i.e. 3.57, 20.0 and 59.0mM that increased pH to 6.2, 7.2 and 8.2, respectively. The increased salt concentration affected survival and growth parameters, subsequent cultures promoted them. The cultured biomass was analyzed for proline, protein, sugars and chlorophyll content. The results indicate an increase of proline, protein and sugars; however, they declined at higher concentrations of NaHCO₃. A decrease of chlorophyll was observed at all stress regimes.

Keywords: NaHCO3; biochemical parameters; in vitro selection; Morus alba

Published: September 30, 2007  Show citation