Title: Micropropagation of Tilia amurensis via Repetitive Secondary Somatic Embryogenesis
Abstract: A optimal procedure for plant production via repetitive secondary somatic embryogenesis in Tilia amurensis is described. Somatic embryos were induced directly from the culture of zygotic embryos on medium with 1.0 mg/l 2,4.-D. Repetitive secondary somatic embryos formed on the surface of the cotyledons and hypocotyls except for the radicles when explants of somatic embryos were cultured on medium with 4.0 mg/l 2,4-D. The highest frequency of secondary embryo-genesis was obtained in the cotyledons (90%) and hypocotyls(83.33%) on MS medium with 1.0 mg/L 2,4-D. The average number of secondary embryos per explant was 25.74 in cotyledon and 24.92 in hypocotyl. When the cotyledon and hypocotyl segments from somatic embryos at different developmental stages were cultured on MS medium with 1.0 mg/L 2,4-D, the highest frequency of secondary embryogenesis was obtained from late cotyledonary secondary embryos. Somatic embryos were transferred to MS basal medium and then they germinated within 2 to 4 weeks of culture. Germinated somatic embryos grew normally into plantlets on WPM medium, producing new shoots. The converted plantlets were acclimatized on artificial soil mixture. These results indicate that the repetitive secondary somatic embryogenesis in T amurensis can offer the possibility to use in vitro culture system for the micropropagation.