Chemical composition and in vitro propagation of Agave salmiana 'Gentry'.

摘要

Maguey cv. 'Manso' (Agave salmiana 'Gentry') is the source of 'aguamiel' (honey water) for human consumption as a natural fortifying beverage, and of leaves for forage. Levels of iron and zinc in aguamiel are sufficient to satisfy daily human requirements, provided people consume approx. 850 ml aguamiel d-1. A. salmiana leaves can be used as a forage supplement to cover the requirements of cattle for minerals such as calcium, magnesium, zinc, iron and copper. Protein expression in honey water was analysed and a protein of approx. 16 kDa was obtained. According to their chemical composition, Agave leaves have high nutritional value as forage. A culture of A. salmiana 'Gentry' was initiated from stem explants on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with indoleacetic acid (IAA) and different concentrations of 6-benzyladenine (BA). Optimum numbers of shoots (20.3+or-3.2) per explant were obtained with 2.0 mg l-1 BA plus 0.25 mg l-1 IAA. For rooting, shoots were cultivated on MS medium supplemented with different levels of IAA (0-1.0 mg l-1). The highest number of roots (4.0+or-0.5) and the longest roots (16.6+or-7.6 cm) were obtained with 0.2 mg l-1 IAA. All rooted plants were successfully adapted to field conditions. Regenerated plants were morphologically similar to field-grown mother plants..