Micropropagation of Locally Grown Chinese jujube (Ziziphus jujuba L.)

Abstract

                                          Micropropagation of Locally Grown Chinese jujube   (Ziziphus jujuba L.)

This study was conducted at the Biotechnology Research Center in 2013 with the aim of developing a micropropagation protocol for locally grown Chinese jujube (Ziziphus jujuba L.). In this study, both: the effect of the type of cytokinin (Benzyl adenine (BA), Kinetin (Kin) and Zeatin (Zea) and concentration (0.0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3 µmol) on the micropropagation of Chinese jujube plants were studied. Using shoot tips to multiply them, and then rooting the resulting shoots using auxins Indole butyric acid (IBA) and Naphtalene acetic acid (NAA).  The results showed that there were no significant differences between the type of cytokinins (BA, Kin and Zea) on the number of developing shoots. Regarding the length of shoots, the growth regulator Zea outperformed both BA and Kin, with an average of 2.47 cm. regarding the number of leaves, Zea and BA exceeded Kin, while in the number of developing nodes, and some significant differences were observed for cytokinin concentrations. The results related to the rooting of the shoots showed that the control treatment was superior in rooting percentage and root length, but when using auxins at a concentration of 2.68 μmol (the general mean); it gave the best number of roots with an average of 1.55 roots per explant. The results also showed that the best growth medium for the success of the plants obtained from the experiment consists of peat moss and soil (at a ratio of 1:2 v/v). The plants were acclimatized with a success rate of 61%.