VOLUME 6 Horticulture Table of Contents Preface 1 Micropropagation Protocol for Melocanna baccifera using Nodal Explants from Mature Clump ................. 2 Bamboo Propagation: Practical Experiences of Some Private Nursery Operators in Laguna, Philippines ................................................................................................................................................ 13 Cyanogenic Glucosides in Juvenile Edible Shoots of some Indian bamboos .................................................... 22 In-vitro Organogenesis and Simultaneous Formation of Shoots and Roots from Callus in Dendrocalamus asper ............................................................................................................................... 31 Micropropagation and Evaluation of Growth Performance of the Selected Industrially Important Bamboo Species in Southern India......................................................................................................... 41 Identifying new Fargesia Introductions and Predicting their Cold Tolerance using AFLP markers ............ 56 Allelopathic Effect of Parthenium hysterophorus L. on Germination and Growth of Seedlings of Bambusa bambos (L) Voss and Dendrocalamus strictus Nees............................................................... 68 Exploring the Nutraceutical potential and Food Safety Aspect of Bamboo shoot of Some Indian Species....................................................................................................................................................... 78 Production of Quality Planting Material of Sympodial Bamboos for Raising Plantations in India............... 89 Clonal Propagation of Bambusa vulgaris Schrad ex wendl by Leafy Branch Cuttings ................................. 105 Micropropagation of Economically Important Bamboo Dendrocalamus hamiltonii through Axillary bud and Seed culture............................................................................................................................. 122 Propagation of Bamboos through Tissue Culture Technology and Field Plantation..................................... 131 Macro-Propagation of Oxytenanthera abyssinica (A. Rich Munro) from Culm Cuttings ............................. 144 Preface Chair, Yves Crouzet, French Diploma, Agricultural Engineer General Manager, « La Bambouseraie » during 28 years. Founding President, European Bamboo Society. General Manager, « Bambuparque » ~ a bamboo nursery in Portugal (60 ha. of bamboo/ 1 million of potted plants) Co Chair, Susanne Lucas, American B.S. Landscape Horticulture, Nursery Management Manager of Pioneer Plants, LLC - U.S. licensor of BambooSelect® Past-President and Honorary Lifetime Member, American Bamboo Society Founding member and C.E.O., World Bamboo Organization Research on bamboo has made enormous progress these last 20 years, stimulated by the increasing demand of poles for industry, construction, handicraft... and also by the new methods of investigation. But we all agree that there is still so much to discover that we can consider ourselves to be just at the beginning. We are not going to point out to you the value of this meeting, your presence shows you don’t need to be convinced. We will speak briefly about the World Bamboo Organization's mission which is: “To promote and support the use of bamboo as a sustainable and alternative natural resource through the development of partnerships and alliances, and the creation of mechanisms for global communication, information exchange and technology transfer.” The papers that will be presented here on the biology, cytology, physiology, embryology and so on, are of substantial scientific interest. Science has contributed to the tremendous progress we know. Presently however, we should not forget the disastrous consequences of some scientific discoveries. Of course it's not the discoveries that are to blame, but the way they have been used. If we do not know how to propagate, grow and cultivate bamboo, the threat diminishing bamboo resources will prevail. Let us continue going forward, there is still a long way to go, but let us take care to keep in mind the fragile balance of our planet. François Rabelais, a French writer warned us 500 years ago when he wrote: “Science without conscience is nothing but ruin of the soul”. Let us never forget. VIII World Bamboo Congress Proceedings Vol 6-1 Micropropagation Protocol for Melocanna baccifera using Nodal Explants from Mature Clump Abhinav Kant*, Sarita Arya** and I. D. Arya** *Tissue Culture Discipline, Forest Research Institute, Dehradun (Uttarakhand), India. **Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding Division, Arid Forest Research Institute, Jodhpur (Rajasthan), India. Abstract A complete protocol for micropropagation of Melocanna baccifera using nodal segments from mature clumps is described. Single nodal segments collected from the 18 years old clumps were pretreated with a mixture of fungicide bavistin and bactericide streptomycin, followed by surface disinfection with 0.1% HgCl2 solution for 10-12 min., and inoculated on liquid Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with cytokinin. Highest bud break with multiple shoots was obtained on liquid MS medium supplemented with 20µM 6- benzylaminopurine (BAP). In vitro differentiated shoots were further multiplied on liquid MS medium supplemented with 15µM BAP and 3µM 6-furfurylaminopurine (Kn) at a rate of 2.99 folds, every 4 weeks. Nearly sixty five percent of in vitro shoots were rooted on half-strength MS medium supplemented with 25µM indole-3-butyric acid (IBA). Later on in vitro raised plantlets were hardened and acclimatized. Keywords: Melocanna baccifera; bamboo; micropropagation; tissue culture. Introduction Melocanna baccifera (Roxb.) Kurz commonly known as ‘muli’ is an important bamboo from South East Asia, distributed chiefly in the Northeast India, Bangladesh and Myanmar region. The culms are thin walled with long internodes and are ideal for splitting, and widely used in house building, to make woven wares (baskets, mats, handicrafts, wall plates, screens, hats) and domestic utensils, and are an important source of superior paperpulp (Alam 1995). The young shoots are edible and during the rainy season constitute one of the important foods of tribal peoples in association with which it grows. The remarkable large fruits of M. baccifera are fleshy and edible; they are used as famine food and relished by wild and domestic animals. The leaves may be used in brewing liquor. Tabasheer, a medicine, as a cooling tonic and as an aphrodisiac, is the residue of the watery sap and found in the internodes of the culms (Singh 1986). Its net like extensive rhizome system protected the forest soil from erosion (Banik 1989). This bamboo is accredited as one of the priority bamboo species for international action (Williams and Rao 1994). This bamboo is flowering since 2004 throughout in its natural range. Maximum forest cover is now denuded due to its gregarious flowering habit. Myanmar reports that the share of the bamboo species Melocanna VIII World Bamboo Congress Proceedings Vol 6-2 baccifera declined from 51.3 percent in 1990 to 36.2 percent in 2000 due to overexploitation (Lobovikov et al. 2007). Considering the erratic flowering behaviour of bamboo and seed viability for a very short period, it is difficult to use seeds for raising large plantations continuously. Although propagation is possible by variety of vegetative methods, each method has its own limitations. Supply of planting material remains critical in establishing bamboo plantations and grove, from which culms may be taken to support bamboo based industries. Use of bamboos as industrial raw material besides their traditional uses, is however increasing day-by-day creating a wide gap between demands and supply which is escalating at alarming pace. In such conditions, in vitro methods remain an alternative solution. These techniques can be applied either for a practical purpose viz. mass propagation by micropropagation and/or for some fundamental studies like understanding flowering phenomenon, genetic studies etc. Probably there is no report on in vitro regeneration in the genus Melocanna. The aim of the present study was to set up a protocol for the establishment, regeneration, multiplication and rooting in vitro, of Melocanna baccifera using nodal explants from mature clump. Materials and methods Explant source: Single nodal segments were collected during March to May from 18 years old clumps growing at the experimental plot of Forest Research Institute, Dehradun, India. After removal of the leaf sheath, individual nodes, each with the bud, were washed with dilute solution of 5-10 drops Tween-20 (HiMedia, India) per 100 ml of distilled water for 10 min. followed by running tap water for 15 min. Pre-disinfection treatments was given to reduce the contamination, where nodal segments were treated with a mixture of aqueous solution of fungicide bavistin (BASF, India) and bactericide streptomycin (HiMedia, India) at a concentration of 0.1% each for 20 min. For surface disinfection, nodal segments were treated with aqueous solution of 0.1% HgCl2 (HiMedia, India) for 10-12 min. To remove the traces of disinfectant, nodal segments were finally washed with sterilized distilled water in laminar air flow for 3-4 times. The surface disinfected axillary buds were inoculated on liquid MS (Murashige and Skoog 1962) medium supplemented with cytokinin. Effect of growth regulators on bud break: Different concentrations