Shoot proliferation in gladiolus - A prelude to the development of micropropagation protocol

Studies were conducted with five gladiolus cultivars in order to standardise the protocol for shoot proliferation in vitro. One cm long shoots from in vitro grown plantlets were cultured in MS medium supplemented with varying concentration of BAP in the media. Significant differences among all characters except bud length were noticed four weeks after culture initiation recorded in Blue Lilac, while Poonam and Wild Rose were highly prolific in shoot proliferation. BAP supplementation at 0.5 mg/l was the best for producing more and better sized shoots. The shoots were rooted in MS medium supplemented with 0.1 mg/l NAA along with 5 g of activated charcoal. The rooted plantlets were successfully transferred to soil.