Published in Scientific Papers. Series A. Agronomy, Vol. LXII, Issue 2
Written by Adriana AURORI, Elena RAKOSY-TICAN
Sunflower, an important agronomic species, also considered the symbol of summer in gardens, is often the subject of biotic stress. The breeding for resistance involving biotechnological tools require well established protocols for in vitro regeneration. Sunflower is, however, well known as a species recalcitrant to in vitro regeneration. The best responsive tissues originate from immature embryos. Tissues of other sources are usually characterized by poor regeneration or require intermediary steps of culture for gaining morphogenetic potential. Here we present a new method for in vitro culture of sunflower involving meristematic tissues resulted from mature embryos. The advantages of this method stand out - it requires mature embryos which are easy to obtain and consist in only two steps of culture on simple media. The regeneration potential of this type of explants is high - up to 100% of the explants regenerate plants. We can conclude that the method developed here for in vitro sunflower regeneration holds promises for solving the regeneration problems of sunflower and can be applied, with slight optimization, for other plant species.
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