The effect of MS media strength and cytokinin in the induction of shoots from shoot tip explants of Australian Finger Lime (Citrus australasica cv. Tasty Green)
'Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM Press)'
Abstract
The Australian Finger Lime (Citrus australasica) is a type of citrus from the Rutaceae family, endemic to the east coast of
Australia. The finger lime, loaded with numerous vitamins and renders a unique taste, has also been backed by science
to contain essential amounts of antioxidants that are beneficial for cell protection, immune response, cancer prevention,
ageing, arthritis and prevention of kidney stones. Current propagation attempts still rely on conventional methods that
are less efficient and resulted in the slow establishment of farms for finger lime especially for commercialization purposes.
This study focuses on the induction of shoots from shoot tip explants using 6-Benzylaminopurine (BAP) and Kinetin.
Aseptic explants were inoculated into Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium of full-strength and half-strength followed by
full-strength MS media supplemented with different concentrations of BAP and Kinetin. Results obtained in this study
showed no significant differences in terms of the number of axillary shoots produced between explants cultured in full
and half-strength MS media. However, the highest number of shoots and increment in shoot length were obtained from
MS media supplemented with 2.0 mg/L BAP with the values 1.80 ± 0.27 and 2.56 ± 0.36 cm, respectively. In conclusion,
MS media supplemented with 2.0 mg/L BAP was found optimal in the induction of shoots and shoot elongation of C.
australasica cv. Tasty Green