In vitro propagation of Campanula glomerata, 'Acaulis' from leaf blade explants

Development of an in vitro regeneration system for Campanula using leaf blades as a source of explants is useful for mass propagation to produce uniform size plants that can tie used for evaluation of new hybrids and for investigation of genetic transformation. Campanula glomerata, 'Acaulis' is relatively easy to propagate in vitro as compared to other Campanula spp., tested. C. glomerata, 'Acaulis' plants cultured in vitro on Murashige and Skoog (MS) basal salts medium containing 1.0 mg/l (4.4 muM) N-6-benzyladenine (BA) and 0.01 mg/l (0.05 muM) alpha-naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) were the source of leaf explants. Maintenance of plants in vitro in low light irradiance (10 mumol m(-2) s(-1)) is recommended because high light irradiance (100 mumol m(-2) s(-1)) suppressed regeneration. Maintenance of plants at 14 degreesC in vitro under low light for at least 2 months resulted in optimum regeneration from leaf blades as compared to 18 degreesC. Explants obtained from leaves of the in vitro grown plants regenerated best (2-3 shoots/explant) on MS medium supplemented with 4 mg/l (17.6 muM) BA and 0.1 mg/l (0.5 muM) NAA. BA was more effective, than 2-isopentenyl adenine (2iP). This is the first successful report of the regeneration from leaf blades of Campanula. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.