Effect of Growth Regulator Combinations on Micropropagation of Madagascar Periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus L.)

Abstract

A search was conducted to define the best combination of growth regulators for micropropagation of Madagascar Periwinkle in vitro. The seeds were sterilized with NaOCl solution (0.5, 1.5, and 2%) for 5, 15 and 20 min then planted on MS medium to obtain sufficient plants for this study. The plants were transferred to MS medium supplemented with NAA (1, 0.1, 0.5, 1 mg L^-1) and BA (0, 1, 2 mg L^-1).  Results showed that seeds sterilized with NaOCl of 1.5% for 5 min exhibited the hiesght percentage of germination (79.19%) without any pollution. Results indicated that the MS7 (1 mg L^-1 NAA, 1 mg L^-1 BA) was superior in plant height (5.54 cm), while the MS11 (1 mg L^-1 NAA, 2 mg L^-1 BA) was superior in the number of branches and leaves per plant (2.90, 19.31 respectively).