Micropropagation and in Vitro Flowering of Luffa acutangula (L.) Roxb.- an Important Vegetable Crop

Abstract

An efficient protocol has been established for micropropagation and in vitro flowering of Luffa acutangula (L.) Roxb. in the present study. Maximum numbers of shoots (8.2±0.29/ nodal explants) were obtained in the MS medium supplemented with 4.44 μM of 6-Benzylaminopurine (BA). Doubling of 40 mM of FeSO4 and Na2EDTA resulted in chlorosis prevention of in vitro leaves. Nearly 100% of in vitro plants induced roots in presence of ½ MS medium containing 4.90 μM of IBA within 12.4±0.40 days of culture. Cytological analysis of the donor and regenerated plantlets revealed chromosome stability with 2n=26 chromosomes. About 100 % of the in vitro grown plants induced both male and female flower buds in MS medium (with 3% sucrose). Nearly 90.5% of the pollen grains formed in the in vitro male flowers were viable. The survival rate of acclimatized plants reached 94.5% when transferred to field conditions. Therefore, the present study can be considered as a promising system for efficient micropropagation and in vitro flowering of L. acutangula, which can also be a source of viable aseptic anthers, and thus can be directly used for haploid culture.