In vitro plantlet regeneration of tomato (Solanum lycoperiscan mill. cv. pusa ruby) from shoot tip explants using five cytokinins

Direct in vitro plant propagation was achieved in Pusa ruby cultivar of Tomato (Solanum lycoperiscan Mill) culturing shoot tip explants (0.5cm) on Murashige and Skoog medium. Among various concentrations of five cytokinins tested Adenine (Ad), N⁶-Benzyladenine (BA), Kinetin (Kn), Zeatin (Ze) and Thidiazuron (TDZ) individually. Highest shoots/explants (18.0± 034) were obtained on MS medium supplemented with (2.0mg/L) TDZ. Multiple shoot elongation occurred upon transfer to TDZ (2.5 mg/L each). The elongated shoots were transferred to Indole Butyric Acid (IBA) (0.5–1.0 mg/L) and Indole Acetic Acid (IAA) (0.5–1.0 mg/L) for root induction. Rooting was observed within two weeks of culture. MS medium supplemented with (1.0 mg/L) IBAproved better with seventy percent rooting after 25 days of implantation. Plantlets obtained from TDZ containing media were normal diploid (2n = 24), Most of the roots were long and healthy. Rooted plantlets were successfully hardened under culture conditions and subsequently established in the field conditions. The recorded survival rate of the plants was 86.3%. Plants looked healthy with no visually detectable phenotypic variations.