TITLE:
In Vitro Propagation of Endangered Orchid, Vanda pumila Hook.f. through Protocorms Culture
AUTHORS:
Sabitri Maharjan, Shreeti Pradhan, Bir Bahadur Thapa, Bijaya Pant
KEYWORDS:
Culture, Micropropagation, MS Medium, Kinetin, Rooting
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.10 No.7,
July
29,
2019
ABSTRACT: The Vanda
pumila is a monopodial orchid with beautiful flowers that are native to Thailand but now
found across South Asia. The immature seeds of Vanda pumila were used for in
vitro culture and then the protocorms developed were used as explants for
seedling development and mass propagation. Protocorms were cultured on 1/2 MS
(Murashige and Skoog, 1962) medium fortified separately with Kinetin (Kn),
6-Benzyl amino purine (BAP) and Gibberellic Acid (GA3) each in different
concentrations as (0.5 mg/L, 1.0
mg/L and 2.0 mg/L) well as each on each concentrations of each medium
supplemented with 5% and 10% coconut water (CW) respectively. The greatest
number of shoots (9.50 ± 0.29 shoots per culture) was developed on 1/2 MS
medium fortified with 1.0 mg/L Kn plus 10%
CW and the longest shoots (0.78 ± 0.07 cm per culture) developed on 1/2 MS
medium fortified with 2.0 mg/L BAP plus 10% CW. The shoots derived from
protocorms were then developed on 1/2 MS medium fortified with three different
rooting hormones viz. Indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), Indole-3-butyric acid (IBA)
and α-Naphthalene acetic acid
(NAA), each in four concentrations (0.5 mg/L, 1.0 mg/L, 1.5 mg/L and 2.0 mg/L)
as well as 1.0 mg/L of each hormone supplemented with 10% CW. The 1/2 MS medium
fortified with 0.5 mg/L IAA was found to be the most effective condition for
the development of maximum number of root (5 ± 0.0 roots per culture) and root
length (0.93 ± 0.07 cm). Hence, the present study could be useful for
standardizing the protocol for mass propagation of the endangered orchid V. pumila.