Clonal propagation of Amygdalus vulgaris L. by in vitro tissue culture techniques

ABSTRACT CLONAL PROPAGATION OF Primus amygdalus L. BY IN VITRO TISSUE CULTURE TECHNIQUES YAPAR, Narin Haki M.Sc. in Biology Supervisor: Asst. Prof. Dr. Canan CAN Sep 2004, 40 pages Almond (Primus amygdalus L.) is cultured in the Gaziantep province is naturally spreads in the area. Recently some hybrid varieties are brought to region and adaptation studies have already been started. The plant is easily propagated through grafting in vivo; however the production is depended on the climatic factors restricting the production. In this study in vitro propagation of Garrigues and Yaltinski varieties of almond was investigated. Murashige and Skoog-MS (1962) supplemented with different concentrations and combinations of cytokinins (Benzylaminopurine-BAP and Kinetin-K) and auxins (Naphthalene acetic acide-NAA, Indole 3- acetic acide-IAA) was used for shoot tip, nodal segments and embryo cultures. The best root formation in embriyo cultures was obtained in media without growth regulators, and MS media supplemented with 0.5 mg/lt of IAA resulted good stem development in Yaltsinki. Calli developed from cultured shoot tips and MS+4 mg/lt BAP resulted fast growing-fragile callus growth. However no somatic embriyo developed from such calli. Cultured nodal explants were best inducted with MS supplemented with 2.0 BAP mg/lt and 0.5 IAA mg/lt for plant regeneration. The results obtained suggest that nodal explants can be used for direct embryogenesis in Garriguez and Yaltinski. Keywords: Prunus amygdalus, plant tissue culture, clonal propagation n