USING TISSUE CULTURE TECHNIQUE IN MICROPROPAGATION OF SWEET POTATO (ipomoea batatas)

The current study was conducted at  tissue culture laboratory of Vegetable and Floriculture Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Mansoura  University during the period from 2010 – 2012.  A protocol is described for rapid and large-scale propagation of the sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) by in vitro culture of shoot tips or nodal segments as explants. The best sterilization method for the explants was observed by using Hg Cl2  at 0.1 % for 14minutes and70%ethanol for 30 seconds. Nodal segments were found to be more efficient than shoot tips for sweet potato shoots regeneration on MS medium (Murashig and skoog, 1962) supplemented with 2ip at 4 mg/l + 0.5 mg/l GA3. Adding activated charcoal (AC) to the culture medium at 2 mg/l was the most effective treatment to avoid of browning phenomenon occurrence (0.00%). Among the five different cytokinins Thidiazuron (TDZ), kinetin (kin), 6-benzyl aminopurine (BAP), -  N6-(2-isopentenyl) adenine 2ip and phloroglycenol (PG) and four concentrations of each, TDZ at 1.00 mg/l gave the best results for shoots multiplication.  Concerning the rooting stage, Indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) at 2.0 mg/l clearly in henced roots development. Mixture of peat moss :vermiculite : perlite (1:1:1 v/v/v ) recorded the highest results for  survived plantlets in terms of survival percentage,