StandardiSation of MEdiUM for MiCroProPaGation of rECaLCitrant Potato (Solanum tuberoSum L.) CULtivar

Experiments were conducted to devise an efficient micro-propagation medium for mass multiplication of a high yielding but recalcitrant potato cultivar Kufri Jyoti using nodal explants with different concentrations and combinations of NH4NO3, GA3 and NAA. Virus-indexed nodal cuttings established in full-strength Murashige and Skoog (MS) basal salts and vitamins, supplemented with 0.29 µM GA3 and 0.05 µM NAA was used as explants for the experiment. Among the various media tested, MS medium with increased level of ammonium nitrate (25.79 mM) supplemented with GA3 (0.58 µM) and NAA (0.1 µM) was found to be optimum as it significantly improved the shoot length, number of leaves, number of nodes and inter nodal length after 21 days of sub-culturing. The next higher concentration of ammonium nitrate (30.94 mM) supplemented with GA3 (0.58 µM) and NAA (0.1 µM) also exhibited statistically at par response in most of the morphological characters but higher concentration (41.25 mM) retarded all the parameters studied.