African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 5 (16), pp. 1470-1474, 17 August 2006   

ISSN 1684–5315 © 2006 Academic Journals        

Full Length Research Paper

In vitro flowering in embryogenic cultures of Kinnow mandarin (Citrus nobilis Lour ´ C. deliciosa Tenora)

B. Singh¹, S. Sharma¹, G. Rani¹, G.S. Virk¹, A.A. Zaidi² and A. Nagpal¹*

¹Department of Botanical and Environmental Sciences, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar 143005, India.

²Floriculture Division, Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, C.S.I.R., Palampur 176 061 (H.P), India.

*Corresponding authors E-mail: avnagpal@yahoo.co.in. Tel: 91-183-2451048. Fax:  91-183-2258819, 2258820.

Abbreviations: BA, 6‑benzyladenine; KN, kinetin; ME, malt extract; MS medium, Murashige and Skoog's (1962) medium.

Accepted 28 June, 2006

Embryogenic cultures of Kinnow mandarin (C. nobilis Lour × C. deliciosa Tenora) were raised from unfertilized ovules dissected from unopened flower buds of this plant inoculated on MS medium supplemented with 2 mg/L kinetin (KN). In vitro flowering was induced in these cultures by using different concentrations of KN and sucrose as well as subjecting these cultures to different photoperiods. Maximum percentage (31.94%) of cultures producing flowers and maximum number (5.58) of flowers per culture was observed on MS medium supplemented with KN (2 mg/L) and sucrose 40 g/L at 12-h photoperiod.

Key words: Embryogenic callus, in vitro flowering, Kinnow (Citrus nobilis ´ C. deliciosa), ovule culture.