Organogenesis

The small millets are quite important in areas of their cultivation as dryland crops, as well as for tribal and hill agriculture. Finger millet-Eleusine coracana, has been the most cultivated and useful small millet crop in India, especially for its nutraceutical qualities. An attempt had been made to develop in vitro regeneration protocol using immature spikes. The immature inflorescence pieces of different sizes were cultured on MS medium supplemented with various growth regulators-2,4-D, 2,4,5-T, pCPA, IAA, Kn and BAP, either alone or in various combinations. Among the various growth regulators investigated, 2,4-D ( 2 mg/l) with Kn (0.5 mg/l) gave maximum callusing response. Effect of developmental stage of immature inflorescence was also studied by collecting immature spikes of different sizes. In cultivar PR-202, a combination of BAP (0.2 mg/l and 2,4-D (2 mg/l) had been found to be very responsive in very young immature spikes (1.25 cm). Successful plant regeneration was obtained from maintained organogenic callus when sub-cultured on BAP supplemented medium.