Micropropagation of Dracaena dere mensis

Abstract

Dracaena deremensis var. Janet Craig is an ornamental export plant. Due to its value, and the occurrence in the field of spontaneous mutants of the same species, also valuable in the international market, efficient methods for rapid propagation of these plants are highly desirable. In this study, multiple shoots were induced on the bottom of caulinar apices of D. deremensis cultured on Murashigue and Skoog (1962) (MS) medium supplemented with different concentrations and combinations of auxins and cytokinins, for a total of 87 treatments with 10-25 replicates each. The highest shoot
multiplication rate was achieved on MS medium containing 1mg l-1 of α-naphtalenaceticacid (NAA) and 1 mg l-1 of kinetin (KIN), which produced an average of 5,6 shoots after three weeks in this culture medium. In vitro rooting occurred in an MS medium devoid of growth regulators. In vitro plants were success fully acclimatized under greenhouse conditions. This protocol was efficient not only for micropropagating Janet Craig, but also for a mutant of the same variety. Results showed a 100% coincidence on both plants in vitro response.