In Vitro Regeneration from lnternodal Explants and Somaclonal Variation in Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L)

Protocols have been developed for the in vitro regeneration of plants from calli derived from internode explants of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L) cv Pusa-372. Callusing was induced on both B5 and MS media supplemented with different combinations and concentrations of auxins and cytokinins, but shoot regeneration was achieved only in B5 medium supplemented with 4.0 mg I⁻¹ IAAand 0.5 mg I⁻¹ BAP after serial subculture of callus on media with increasing concentration of IAA and constant concentration of BAP. Rooting could not be achieved in in vitro regenerated shoots on any one of the media tried. Complete plantlets were, therefore, developed through grafting of the in vitro regenerated shoot on established root stock. The grafting methodology was found to be highly efficient and reproducible. The somaclones developed produced viable seeds which showed variability in terms of seed colour and seed weight. Thus, the protocols developed in this study remove one important bottleneck in the development of transgenic chickpea.