Standardization of sterilization protocol for micropropagation of patharnakh and kainth pear

The experiment was carried in Tissue Culture Laboratory in Department of Fruit Science, Punjab Agriculture University, Ludhiana, Punjab during 2013–15. Two sterilizing agents namely mercuric chloride (HgCl²) and sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl²) were tested for sterilization of Patharnakh and Kainth by varying their concentration and time of exposure. The results indicated that HgCl² proved better in terms of aseptic culture (%) and survival (%) than NaOCl². HgCl² (0.2%) for 5 minutes resulted in maximum aseptic culture in Patharnakh (88.49%) and Kainth (83.03%). However, maximum survival of Patharnakh (66.67%) and Kainth (76.14%) explants was obtained by using HgCl²(0.1%) for 5 minutes.