A NOVEL-APPROACH FOR CHILI-PEPPER (CAPSICUM-ANNUUM-L) PLANT-REGENERATION - SHOOT INDUCTION IN ROOTED HYPOCOTYLS

Rooted hypocotyls from three cultivars of chili pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) were inverted onto murashige and Skoog (MS) medium with three combinations of benzyladenine (BA) and indoleacetic acid (IAA) in order to induce buds in the exposed cortex. Differences in bud formation were observed for the cultivars tested, with between 4 and 20.1 buds per hypocotyl. The best combination of growth regulators considering all of the cultivars was 5 mg l-1 of BA and 0.3 mg l-1 of IAA, since the percentage of bud induction ranged from 46.7 to 100. Hypocotyls bearing buds were placed in the normal position on fresh MS medium, free of growth regulators, allowing the elongation of shoots during a period of 15-30 days. The observed number of elongated shoots per hypocotyl varied from 1.0 to 3.2, depending on the cultivar and the BA/IAA combination. These shoots were excised and rooted on coarse sand, wetted with half strength MS medium.