Abstract

The economic importance of ornamentals worldwide suggests a bright future for ornamental breeding. Rapid progress in plant molecular biology has great potentials to contribute to the breeding of novel ornamental plants utilizing recombinant DNA technology. The plant cell, tissue or organ culture of many ornamental species and their regeneration are essential for providing the material and systems for their genetic manipulation, and this is therefore the first requirement of genetic engineering. In this research, different concentration of BA (0.0, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0 mgl^-¹ with NAA (0.0, 0.5, 1.0 mgl^-¹) and BA (0.0, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0 mgl^-¹) with IAA (0.0, 0.5, 1.0, mgl^-¹) were investigated to optimize regeneration of Begonia elatior cv. Toran orange. The best regeneration and growth were obtained from the media containing 2.0 mgl^-¹ BA and 1.0 mgl^-¹ NAA (70%) followed by 1.0 mgl^-¹ BA and 0.5 mgl^-¹ NAA (50%), 1.0 mgl^-¹ BA and 1.0 mgl^-¹ NAA (20%) in BA - NAA combination. The media with BA - IAA combination showed that the best regeneration was 0.5 mgl^-¹ BA and 0.5 mgl^-¹ IAA (43%) followed by 0.5 mgl^-¹ BA and 1.0 mgl^-¹ IAA (23%).

Key words: Begonia, Begonia tuberus, ornamental, regeneration, direct organogenesis.

Abbreviation

Abbreviations: BA, 6-Benzyladenine; IAA, indole-3-aceticacid; NAA, 1-naphthyleneacetic acid.