In Vitro Regeneration of Cotton Plants from Shoot Tip Explants: A Simple and Alternative Method

In order to develop the transgenic and disease resistant plants through in vitro mutagenesis easily regenerable embryonic tissues are required. Meristem shoot tip of normal and fertile plants of Gossypium hirsutum var. MCU 5 and MCU 11 were regenerated using this method. The shoot tips of both varieties were cultured on MS medium with different combination of IAA and KIN and assessed for shoot development. Different concentration of IBA and IAA were tested for root development. The best shoot development was observed on media containing 0.1 mg/l KIN and alternate with hormone free medium, and the root development was observed on hormone free media with 0.3% activated charcoal and alternate with charcoal free medium. This method was developed to circumvent the problems of genotype restriction in regeneration of cotton plants via somatic embryogenesis. A complete protocol was developed from shoot tip culture to field transfer. This method is simple and rapid than other existing regeneration method for meristem culture and meristem tip culture of the cotton plants.