Tissue Culture of Curcuma pierreana Gagnep. for Conservation of Rare Plant in Thailand

Abstract

Curcuma pierreana Gagnep. is a highly valued ornamental plant. A protocol has been developed for tissue culture of C. pierreana Gagnep., a rare plant from Thailand. Young shoots of C. pierreana Gagnep. (1 cm in length) were cultured on Murashige and Skoog (MS) (1962) medium containing 0, 0.1, 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 8 and 16 mg/l of cytokinin hormone alone (BA, Kinetin and TDZ), or a combination of cytokinins (BA and TDZ) and 0, 0.1, 0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2 mg/l of auxins (IAA, IBA and NAA) for eight weeks. The maximum average number of shoots (4.20 shoots/explant) was observed on the medium with the addition of 4 mg/l BA combined with 2 mg/l TDZ.The young shoots of C.pierreana Gagnep. cultured on the medium supplemented with 2 mg/l IAA produced the maximum average number of roots (25.71 roots/explant).