Carob tree micropropagation essays (Ceratonia siliqua L.)

Carob tree (Ceratonia siliqua L.) is an agro-sylvo-pastoral species that has been classified among the most efficient trees. The first publications on the "in-vitro " multiplication of Carob are very recent and show conflicting results. Mastery of this technique seems necessary to provide the increased demand of the international market for the gum extracted from the endosperm of the seed, a polyoside called galactomannan. This work aimed to study micropropagation from adult tree micro cuttings. Our results showed that the most favorable disinfectant is HgCl2 with 93% surface sterile explants. Comparison of the effect of various hormones with different concentrations (BAP, Zeatin, GA3, TDZ, and ANA) has shown that the addition of BAP on MS medium gave a good response of axillary bud development (58,3%±6,42) while BAP supplemented with activated charcoal gave the best results (87,3%±4,23). As for rooting, the different alternatives of hormones types and concentrations must be later considered to initiate rooting of the buds.