Embriogénesis somática indirecta de Swietenia macrophylla King en medios de cultivo semisólidos

Biotechnological techniques are an alternative to propagate Swietenia macrophylla King. However, micropropagation by organogenesis in this species has been little or not developed due to big microbial contamination and low indexes of in vitro plants regeneration. Therefore, somatic embryogenesis plays an important role in the propagation of this woody species. Immature cotyledons were used as initial plant material to establish a protocol of indirect somatic embryogenesis. Different growth regulators and their concentrations were used to develop the indirect somatic embryogenesis stages. The use of a semisolid culture medium composed of MS salts with 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (4.0 mg l -1 ) favored the formation of callus in the explants. The highest percentage of high frequency somatic embryogenesis (59.01%) was obtained adding 1.0 mg l -1 6-bencylaminopurine in the culture medium . Maturation of somatic embryos was increased using 6.0% sucrose. The greater percentage of somatic embryos germination (76.17%) was reached in the culture medium without growth regulator. A reproducible indirect somatic embryogenesis protocol from callus formation to somatic embryos germination in Swietenia macrophylla King was established. Key words : callus, growth regulators, high frequency somatic embryogenesis, somatic embryos