ABSTRACT
Optimizing culture media for in vitro microbulb production of medicinal wild plant: Eremurus spectabilis M. Bieb

Saadet Sicakyüz1, and Burcu Tuncer2*
 
Eremurus spectabilis M. Bieb. is an important wild plant species consumed as a vegetable. The plant is also used for medicinal purposes, in the cut flower industry as ornamental geophytes. In this study, it was aimed to ensure germination, bulblet regeneration, bulblet size enlargement in E. spectabilis under in vitro conditions. Gamborg (B5) and White (WH) media were used for in vitro germination of seed tip-cutting and total of 24 Murashige and Skoog (MS) combinations supplemented with thidiazuron (TDZ) (0.5, 1.0, 2.0, and 4.0 mg L-1) + naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) (0, 0.1, and 0.5 mg L-1) and 6-benzyl amino purine (BAP) (0.5, 1.0, 2.0, and 4.0 mg L-1) + NAA (0, 0.1, and 0.5 mg L-1) were used for bulblet regeneration experiments. For bulblet size enlargement, two trials were set up with an interval of 30-35 d. The highest germination ratio (61.5%) was obtained from B5 medium (p < 0.01). In in vitro bulblet regeneration trials, MS media supplemented with 0.5 mg L-1 TDZ with 0.1 (65.8%) and 0.5 mg L-1 NAA (65.3%) and the combination of 1.0 mg L-1 TDZ with 0.5 mg L-1 NAA (65.1%) yielded more successful in terms of bulblet ratio (p < 0.01). For bulblet size enlargement, as the average of both trial sets, 1.0 mg L-1 TDZ+0.1 mg L-1 NAA combination was more successful in terms of bulblet ratio (79.05%) and bulblet diameter (2.05 cm). The most successful combinations in terms of average number of bulblets were 2.0 mg L-1 TDZ+0.1 mg L-1 NAA (32.25 bulblets) and 1.0 mg L-1 TDZ+0.1 mg L-1 NAA (30.6 bulblets), respectively.
Keywords: 6-Benzyl amino purine, bulblet, edible wild plant, Eremurus, in vitro propagation, naphthalene acetic acid, thidiazuron.
1Van Yüzüncü Yil University, Institute of Natural and Applied Sciences, Department of Horticulture, Van, Turkey.
2Van Yüzüncü Yil University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Horticulture, Van, Turkey.
*Corresponding author (brctuncer@gmail.com).