Large scale in vitro micropropagation of an ornamental plant, Oxalis triangularis A.st.-Hil, for commercial application

Abstract

Oxalis triangularis A.st.-Hil is an attractive ornamental plant propagated by bulbs and has no natural viable seeds. In vitro micropropagation and acclimatization for the ornamental Oxalis triangularis A.st.- Hil, are reported. Plantlet regeneration ability on MS medium supplemented with 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP) at different concentrations (0, 1.0, 3.0, and 5.0 mg L-1) either singly or in combination with αnaphthalene acetic acid (NAA) (0.5 mg L-1) or 2,4-dichlorophenoxy acetic acid (2,4-D) (0.5 mg L-1) was evaluated using petiole explants. Prolific shoot multiplication (28.40±0.12 shoots explant-1), mean shoot length (28.94±0.14 mm), maximum number of roots (16.00±0.12 roots shoot-1), and average root length (26.45±0.16 mm) was achieved on MS medium supplemented with 3.0 mg L-1 BAP, and 0.5 mg L-1 2,4-D. Micropropagated plantlets were successfully transferred in sterilized mixture of soil: vermiculite (3:1) with 100% survival rate under field conditions. Regenerated plantlets were morphologically identical with mother plants. This system can be used for rapid mass clonal propagation of Oxalis triangularis A.st.-Hil, for commercial production, conservation strategies, and producing phytomedicines.