GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF POTATO CALLUS IN SUSPENSION CULTURES

Abstract

Potato callus raised from placental tissue was continuously grown in agitated liquid cultures. Best growth of the callus and its dissociation into single cells and clumps of cells was obtained in a medium containing Murashige and Skoog's minerals +2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (0.2 p.p.m.) +α-naphthaleneacetic acid (0.2 p.p.m.) + yeast extract (1000 p.p.m.). When a suspension of cells from this medium was transferred to fresh medium of the same composition, the clumps of cells proliferated further to form masses of callus. Occasionally, differentiation of roots from the callus was also observed. In media containing kinetin (0.2 p.p.m.) or 6(γ,γ-dimethylallylamino)-purine, large numbers of shiny, rounded pearl-like callus masses were obtained. The development of these callus bodies and their subsequent growth proved better when the kinin used in the medium was 6(γ,γ-dimethylallylamino)-purine.