1Department of Plant Physiology, College of Basic Sciences and Humanities, G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, Uttarakhand-263 145.
2Division of Plant Physiology, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi-110 012.
*Corresponding author, E-mail: pramodk63@yahoo.com.
Genotypic response of hill maize hybrids viz. Vivek-4, Vivek-5, VL-42 and Him-129 to low concentrations of phosphate (low-P) was studied in vitro. An induction in anthocyanin accumulation and increase in total protein content were observed with decreasing concentration of P in the medium. SDSpolyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of in vitro cultured plants showed the over expression of 4–6 polypeptides under P deficient levels than to sufficient. Thus, results thereby indicated that many proteins to be specifically synthesized de novo under Pi deficiency as part of the adaptive mechanism under low P condition. Amongst the four hybrids of maize Him-129 and Vivek-5 showed relatively good response in terms of anthocyanin accumulation in stem and higher total protein content along with activation of few extra new bands of polypeptides under P deficiency and so, proved their tolerance against low P stress.
In vitro, maize, phosphorus deficiency, SDS-electrophoresis, shoot tip culture
