Effect of callus age on plant regeneration efficiency in sugarcane

Callus cultures were established from spindle explants of sugarcane variety CoJ 88 on MS medium supplemented with 2, 4-D (4.0 mg/l) and kin (0.5 mg/l). The per cent shoot regeneration was determined from ten batches of embryogenic callus cultures of varying age from 3–12 months old, each with one month interval, separately on three different media compositions viz., MS + BAP (0.5 mg/l), MS + IAA (2.0 mg/l) + kin (0.5 mg/l) and MS + BAP (2.0 mg/l). The three month old calli exhibited the highest shoot regeneration (48.39) % on MS + BAP (0.5 mg/l) followed by 38.10% on MS + IAA (2.0 mg/l) + kin (0.5 mg/l) and the least (13.46%) on MS + BAP (2.0 mg/l). The adverse effect of callus age on shoot regeneration efficiency was indicated by regression value (R² = 0.99) between them. The shoot elongation carried on MS + IB A (5.0 mg/l), was cent per cent for shoots regenerated from seven month old calli and declined slightly in the shoots from 12 month old calli. The rooting was carried on MS + NAA (3.0 mg/l) + IBA (2.0 mg/l) + sucrose (70 g/l). No significant impact of callus age on root induction was observed as overall mean was 95.9 per cent in all the batches of 3–12 month old calli regenerated shoots.