Micropropagation of Jujube (Ziziphus jujuba)

Abstract

Introduction: Jujube (Ziziphus jujuba) is one of the most important fruit trees in Asia which has been planted from 3,000 years ago in China for medicinal purposes. Jujube belongs to the Rhamnaceae family. The Jujube fruit is used in fresh and dry forms. The fruit is full of vitamin C and has anticancer and medicinal effects. This tree can grow on salty and dry lands in Iran. Therefore, increasing the cultivation area of Jujube can be effective for soil conservation. In the last 20years, cultivation of Jujube is is considerable in Iran specially in the South Khorasan Province and 98 % of total production of Jujube in Iran belongs to this province. The low rate of seed germination and low production of shootlets are the most important problems in Jujube proliferation, so micropropagation of this plant through tissue culture was considered. Materials and methods: In this study, Cangan ecotype of Jujube was used for multiple shoot regeneration. At the end of May, apical buds of shoots were cut from mature trees of the Research Collection of Jujube at Sarbishe, Birjand, South Khorasan Province in Iran. The buds were disinfected with 70% ethanol for 1 min and 2% sodium hypoclorite for 25 min. Then the buds were rinsed with distilled water for 25 min completely. Apical buds were placed on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with different concentrations of BA (0.5, 1, 1.5, 2 mg/L) in combination with IBA or NAA (0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.4 mg/L). After one month, the shoots with 3-5 cm length were transferred to rooting media (1/2 MS + IBA or IAA : 0.5, 2, 5, 10 mg/L). The data were recorded after shooting and rooting and were analysed in the facorial experiment. Results and Discussion: The results of variance analysis and mean comparisons showed that there are differences between different levels of IBA and BA alone for the number of shoots and their length (