Callus induction and regeneration of elite Indian maize.pdf

African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 9(44), pp. 7446-7452, 1 November, 2010 Available online at /AJB ISSN 1684–5315 ?2010 Academic Journals Full Length Research Paper Callus induction and regeneration of elite Indian maize inbreds A. Manivannan*, J. Kaul, A. Singode and S. Dass Directorate of Maize Research, Pusa Campus, New Delhi-110012, India. Accepted 27 September, 2010 Five elite Indian maize inbreds namely; HKI1105, HKI1105, HKI335, CM300 and LM5 were evaluated for callus induction and regeneration. Immature embryos obtained 14 days after pollination were used as explants. Genotype, medium, type of auxin and their concentrations influenced callus induction. N6 medium supplemented with different concentration of 2,4-D (1, 2 and 3 mg/l) and Dicamba (1, 2 and 3 mg/l) were used for callus induction. N6 supplemented with 2 mg/l of 2,4-D has shown highest percentage of embryogenic callus induction. Among the five genotypes tested, CM300 gave highest percentage of embryogenic calli. CM300 and LM5 both have shown higher regeneration percentage of 12.22%. Key words: Maize, in-vitro culture and regeneration. INTRODUCTION Maize (Zea mays L.) is the most important cereal crop in the world in terms of global annual tons produced (Food and Agricultural Organization, 2009). Maize is raw material for a number of industrial products besides its uses as human food and animal feed. At present, the developed world uses maize more than the developing world, but forecasts indicate that by the year 2020, the developing countries will demand more maize than the developed world (Duvick, 1998). One of the strategies to mitigate various stresses in maize is development of transgenic maize. Genetic transformation of maize with genes conferring resistance to biotic/abiotic stresses is expected to address many of these issues synergistically with conventional breeding. Green and Philips (1975) first reported regeneration of