Jaydip Mandal*,Poornima Sharma
An efficient clonal propagation protocol has been established from seedling explants of Carum copticum. Best seed germination frequency (100%) was observed on both Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium and Nitsch and Nitsch (NN) medium supplemented with 1.0 mg l-1 and 0.5 mg l-1 GA3 respectively. Shoot multiplication was initiated from hypocotyl and radical explants cultured on MS and NN media supplemented with various concentration and combination of N6-benzyladenine (BA), kinetin (Kn) and gibberellic acid (GA3). The highest shoot induction (96.66%) was observed from hypocotyl explants on NN medium supplemented with 1.5 mg l-1 BA whereas 93.33% shoot induction was observed on MS medium supplemented with 1.5 mg l-1 BA. The maximum of 11.5 shoots per hypocotyl explant with an average length of 6.68 cm was observed on MS medium supplemented with 1.5 mg l-1 BA whereas 10.83 shoots per hypocotyl explant with an average shoot length of 5.53 cm was observed on NN medium containing same level of BA concentration. Rooting of shoots was achieved on MS and NN media supplemented with various concentrations of indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) and napthaleneacetic acid (NAA). The highest root regeneration frequency (96.66%) was observed either on MS supplemented with 0.25 mg l-1 NAA or on NN medium with 0.25 mg l-1 IAA. The maximum number of 7.83 roots per shoot with an average root length of 3.98 cm was observed on MS medium supplemented with 0.25 mg l-1 NAA whereas 7.33 roots per shoot with an average root length of 4.13 cm was observed on NN medium supplemented with same level of NAA. Plantlets were acclimatized in garden soil and transferred to field. The method described here can be successfully employed for large scale production of sterile plants for pharmaceutical use and genetic transformation studies.