Improved, Efficient and Reliable Plant Regeneration Protocol for a Recalcitrant Black Rice (Oryza sativa cv. Chakhao amubi)

Rice tissue culture is very well established for the Indica and Japonica varieties in white rice. Black rice is recalcitrant for the regeneration due to their pigment. Since, there is a limited genetic transformation protocol available for the black rice so crop improvement efforts have not made so much progress. Here, we have developed an improved, efficient and reliable regeneration protocol for Chakhao amubi cultivar of black rice using mature seeds as an explant and through somatic embryogenesis pathway. The effects of growth regulators, gelling agent, and photoperiod, and various stages of complete protocol is well established. The regeneration protocol developed in this study will be well suited for introducing the agronomical important genes and functional genomic studies in black rice.