African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 4 (11), pp. 1250-1255, November 2005          
ISSN 1684–5315 © 2005 Academic Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Effect of genotype on callus induction and plant regeneration from leaf explants of sugarcane (Saccharum sp.)

Ch. GANDONOU¹, T. ERRABII¹, J. ABRINI¹, M. IDAOMAR¹, F. CHIBI² and N. SKALI SENHAJI^1*

¹Université Abdelmalek Essaâdi, Faculté des Sciences de Tétouan, Laboratoire de Biologie et Santé, BP.2121, Tétouan, Morocco.

²Université Abdelmalek Essaâdi, Faculté des Sciences et Techniques de Tanger, Laboratoire d'Environnement et Valorisation des Ressources Naturelles, Morocco.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: senhajin@hotmail.com; Fax: 00212 39 99 45 00.

Accepted 25 August, 2005

Nine sugarcane genotypes (CP59-73, CP63-588, CP80-314, SP71-1081, F160, L62-96, CP70-321, CP57-614 and Clone III) were evaluated for their callus induction capacity, embryogenic callus production and plant regeneration ability. Leaf cylinders were used as explants using Murashige and Skoog (MS) based medium supplemented with 3 mg l^-1 2,-4 dichlorophenoxyacetic acid. Plant regeneration was accomplished on hormone free modified MS medium supplemented with casein hydrolyzate. The genotypes tested showed high callus induction percentage (69 to 95%) and high embryogenic callus percentage (60 to 100%). These genotypes also showed excellent regeneration capacities, with regeneration percentages ranged between 88 and 100%. Significant differences were observed between genotypes for callus induction capacity, embryogenic response and plant regeneration ability indicating that these criteria are genotype dependent. Plant regeneration ability is highly correlated with embryogenic callus production. The in vitro regenerated plants were successfully rooted and well acclimatised in growth cabinet conditions.

Key words: Tissue culture, embryogenic callus, genotypic variation, plant regeneration, sugarcane, leaf explants.