Agrica

Leaf sheath explants of sugarcane variety CoS 99259 were inoculated on agar gelled (8.0 g/l) Murashige and Skoog’s (MS) medium containing 3.0 mg/l of 2, 4 dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2, 4-D). Different sources of carbon viz., sucrose, glucose, mill sugar, sugar cubes, and fructose were separately added into the medium each at a concentration of 20 g/l. The result showed that maximum 64.4% of leaf sheath explants initiated callus within 3 weeks of inoculation on medium containing sucrose followed by sugar cubes (59.9%). The best growth of callus was also observed in presence of sucrose followed by sugar cubes. The frequency of callus formation in presence of mill sugar, glucose, and fructose was significantly low. The actively growing calli were transferred on MS shoot proliferation medium supplemented with BAP and Kinetin (0.5mg/leach) along with respective sources of carbon. The result revealed the highest induction of shoot primordia in 64.4% callus culture in presence of sucrose followed by 59.6% in the presence of sugar cubes, within 4-6 weeks of transfer. The highest number of shoot per culture (21.3) was recorded on the medium containing sucrose followed by sugar cubes (16.8) which was statistically similar. The explants showed poor responses regarding callus formation, shoot regeneration /and shoot growth on the medium containing mill sugar, glucose or fructose as carbon source.