Abstract
The effects of various such culture conditions as culture temperature, and concentration of sucrose, gelling reagents and plant growth regulators on the growth and development of embryos excised from immature seeds of Lilium japonicum Thunb. were examined. The embryos as cultured explants were obtained from the capsule in early September. Embryos with 3-5 mm in length were cultured in vitro on Murashige and Skoog medium (pH 5.7) under controlled lighting conditions (45 μmol · m-2 · s-1, 16/8 hr: light/dark). The optimal temperature for germination, growth and bulb formation was 20∼25°C. The plantlets were effectively established on MS hormone-free medium containing 3% sucrose and gelled with 0.8% agar or 0.4% gellan gum. Further-more, 1∼10 μM of exogenous Kinetin or BA promoted embryo growth within 30 days of culture. 1∼10 μM of exogenous IAA promoted multiple bulblet formation. The results indicate that our in vitro method for successfully raising plantlets can be efficiently applied to mass seedling propagation of Lilium japonicum Thunb.
