THE EFFECTS OF PLANT GROWTH REGULATORS AND INCUBATION TEMPERATURES ON GERMINATION AND BULB FORMATION OF FRITILLARIA PERSICA L.

摘要

Fritillaria persica L. with large attractive flowers is native to Western Asian countries of the Middle East including Turkey. Wild populations of this species have shown sharp decrease during last few decades due to habitat destruction for number of socio-economical and anthropological reasons. F. persica is propagated through bulbs and seeds. The seeds have significantly high dormancy such that few seeds germinate under natural conditions. Therefore, this study developed a seed dormancy break protocol using MS medium containing variants of BAP with and without IBA incubated at 4 C in dark. Maximum seed dormancy break (80.00 +/- 0.14%) was registered on MS medium enriched with 2.0 mg l(-1) BAP plus 1.0 mg l(-1) IBA and maximum bulblet induction (40.0 0 +/- 0.71) was noted on MS medium containing 1.0 mg l(-1) BAP plus 1.0 mg l(-1) IBA. Similarly, alternating incubation temperatures of 4 degrees and 10 degrees C for variable durations in days influenced seed germination and bulblet induction variably with 100% seed germination and bulblet induction at 75 days incubation at 4 degrees C followed by 15 days incubation at 10 degrees C. The results also suggested that minimum incubation period of 30 days at 4 degrees C followed by incubation at 10 degrees C for 60 days was required to break seed dormancy. The increase in bulblet diameter was achieved on MS medium containing 50 mg l(-1) sucrose by incubating the bulblets at 4 degrees C for 30 days. Rooting of the Fritillaria bulblets was obtained on MS medium enriched with 0.5 mg l(-1) NAA. This propagation method could be exploited practically avoiding any seasonal constraints to obtain plant material and suggests a positive step further for in vitro propagation of F. persica.