Emir. J. Food Agric. 2014. 26 (6): 558-564 doi: 10.9755/ejfa.v26i6.18022 http://www.ejfa.info/ Regular Article PLANT TISSUE CULTURE In vitro propagation of Drosera intermedia as influenced by cytokinins, pH, sucrose, and nutrient concentration Jindrich Rejthar1, Iva Viehmannova1*, Petra Hlasna Cepkova1, Eloy Fernández1 and Luigi Milella2 1Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences, CULS – Prague, Czech Republic 2Department of Science, University of Basilicata, Potenza, Italy Abstract This study was aimed to optimize in vitro propagation of Drosera intermedia for commercial and conservation purposes. The effect of concentration of MS nutrients (⅛ MS, ¼ MS, ½ MS and, MS), various pH (3.7-7.7), sucrose concentration (10-40 g l-1) and cytokinins (0.1-3 mg l-1), namely BA (N6-benzyladenine), kinetin and zeatin were evaluated. After 60 days of shoot cultivation, growth and developmental characteristics (plant height, number of shoots per explant, diameter of rosette, number of roots per explant, length of roots) were recorded. No significant differences were found for various levels of pH and sucrose. On the contrary, plant height was negatively influenced by an increase of nutrients in the medium. The plants on 1/8 MS medium were significantly taller, and displayed higher proliferation capacity compared with those cultivated on full-strength MS medium. Shoot multiplication and growth was suppressed by supplementation of BA and kinetin, regardless of concentration used. Zeatin at the lowest concentration (0.1 mg l-1) provided the best results for shoot proliferation of all 26 treatments and can be recommended for micropropagation of D. intermedia. Key words: Droseraceae, Micropropagation, Nutrient concentration, Oblong-leaved sundew, and Zeatin Introduction biology and carnivorous habit (Kawiak et al., 2003; The Drosera genus (Droseraceae) consists of Wolf et al., 2006), and today they are considered carnivorous plants with active flypaper traps and economically important ornamental plants includes nearly 150 species distributed in Australia, (Barthlott et al., 2004). Africa, and South America, with some Northern D. intermedia is an attractive species of Hemisphere species (Rivadavia et al., 2003). Some potential horticultural value. It is sized between D. species, mainly Drosera rotundifolia L., D. anglica and D. rotundifolia, bearing wedge-shaped intermedia Hayne and D. anglica Huds., are leaves, 7-12 mm long, and 4-10 mm wide, in a commonly used in traditional medicine as the rosette. All the tentacles on the leaf surface are of therapy of respiratory tract (Paper et al., 2005; symmetric length. Inflorescences are cymose or Fukushima et al., 2009). Recently, several bioactive racemose, more robust than those of D. rotundifolia compounds from sundew leaves and roots including composed of white flowers (Wynne, 1944; Crowder flavonoids and quinones have been found (Hook, et al., 1990). D. intermedia had been used for 2001; Marczak et al., 2005; Putalun et al., 2010). artificial hybridization with D. anglica and D. These compounds can be considered as very capillaris (Kusakebe, 1979). Subesquently, a important metabolites (Milella et al., 2011; Padula spontaneous hybrid D. intermedia x D. capillaris, et al., 2013). In addition, to the use for interspread between colonies of the two species, pharmaceutical applications (Biteau et al., 2012), was discovered (Sheridan, 1987). Drosera species have captured the interest of In nature, D. intermedia grows in the acidic botanists and horticulturists because of their unique parts of valley mires that are flooded in winter, and subject to drying out in summer, but it is also Received 03 February 2014; Revised 05 March 2014; Accepted widespread in persistent pools. In most natural sites 06 March 2014; Published Online 25 March 2014 of Europe and North America, it is becoming less *Corresponding Author frequent because of land drainage and uncontrolled collections for medicinal and ornamental purposes Iva Viehmannova Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences, CULS – Prague, Czech (Crowder et al., 1990; Kawiak et al., 2003; Kawiak Republic and Lojkowska, 2011). Therefore, in vitro Email: [email protected] propagation would be a useful tool for conservation 558 Jindrich Rejthar et al. of germplasm and as a source of plants for effect of nutrient concentration was investigated commercialization of the species (Jimenez et al., using full-strength MS, ½ MS, ¼ MS and ⅛ MS 2011; Swart et al., 2012). media. To detect the influence of various pH, the In Drosera genus, micropropagation has been media pH was adjusted to 3.7, 4.7, 5.7, 6.7 and 7.7 successfully optimized for D. indica (Jayaram and using KOH (1 M). The cytokinin effect was tested Prasat, 2007), D. aliciae (Kawiak and Lojkowska, on media enriched by cytokinins, namely kinetin, 2011), D. peltata (Kwang-Soo and Go-Won, 2004), N6-benzyladenine (BA) and zeatin at four D. rotundifolia (Bobak et al., 1995), D. capensis concentrations (0.1, 0.5, 1, 3 mg l-1). The media were (Jiménez et al., 2011), D. spatulata (Bobak et al., prepared in Erlenmeyer flasks (100 ml) and 1993, Perica and Berljak, 1996), and D. anglica, D. sterilized by autoclaving (20 min, 121°C, 100 kPa). binata and D. cuneifolia (Kawiak et al., 2003). Cultures were maintained under the cultivation Recently, there was just one brief report on in conditions described above. After 60 days of vitro micropropagation of D. intermedia cultivation, plant height, the number of shoots per (Grevenstuk et al., 2010). Thus, the aim of this plant, diameter of rosettes, and the number and study was to establish an efficient length of roots were recorded. micropropagation protocol for this vulnerable and Experimental design and statistical analysis attractive species, extensively testing responses to All experiments were repeated twice with 15 different abiotic factors, especially on the replications per treatment. The experiment was concentration of mineral salts, plant growth arranged in a completely randomized block design. regulators and sucrose in cultivation media, as well The data were subjected to analysis of variance as various pH of the media. (ANOVA) and the least significant (p < 0.05) Materials and Methods differences among mean values were estimated using Plant material and establishment of in vitro Fisher’s LSD test [StatSoft STATISTICA 12.0]. culture Ex vitro transfer and acclimatization As the initial plant material for the experiment, Well rooted plants (having at least 4 roots longer the seeds of Drosera intermedia (Droseraceae) than 10 mm) were rinsed with tap water to remove were used. They were obtained via Index Seminum the adhering medium and then planted separately in from Universitatea Babeş-Bolyai, Gradina pots (50 x 50 mm) filled with a mixture of peat moss botanica-Al Borza, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, in the and perlite 1:1 (v/v). The plants were grown under year 2009. The seeds were disinfected in 70% high air humidity (85-90%) for 7 days. These ethanol for 1 min, followed by 20-25 minutes in 2% conditions were maintained by covering the potted NaClO containing Tween 20 (1ml l-1). After plants with pored polythene bags. From the 15th day, sterilization, the plant material was rinsed three the plastic bags were gradually removed to reduce times for one minute in sterile, distilled water, and the relative humidity (ca 70%). The 30th day, the placed on half-strength MS medium (Murashige plastic bags were completely removed. The success and Skoog, 1962) supplemented with 30 g l-1 of acclimatization was determined after 8 weeks sucrose, 8 g l-1 agar, 100 mg l-1 myo-inositol and pH based on survival percentage. adjusted to 5.7. Cultures were maintained at 25/23°C under a 16/8 h light/dark regime with 36 Results μmol m-2 s-1 of cool white fluorescent light. The Multiplication seedlings (ca 5 mm in height), obtained from the The results revealed that plants cultivated on seeds after 30 days of cultivation were used for medium with lower concentrations of sucrose (10 multiplication experiment. or 20 g l-1) show higher proliferation capacity and had a higher diameter of rosettes, although the In vitro multiplication of plants differences among these characteristics were not For multiplication, in total of 25 treatments statistically significant when compared to other were tested. All media were derived from basal treatments. Moreover, these plants were rather tiny medium, consisting of half-strength MS medium and displayed the tendency to produce flowers (Murashige and Skoog, 1962) supplemented with under in vitro conditions. On the contrary, a 30 g l-1 sucrose, 8 g l-1 agar, 100 mg l-1 myo-inositol treatment containing 40 g l-1 sucrose produced thick and pH adjusted to 5.7. This medium was also used lower plants, with smaller diameter of rosettes, in as control. some individuals of abnormal morphology. In all In order to investigate optimal concentration of treatments, plant height, number of roots per plant sucrose for multiplication, media containing 10 g l-1, and their length, were comparable (Table 1). 20 g l-1, 30 g l-1 and 40 g l-1 sucrose were tested. The 559 Emir. J. Food Agric. 2014. 26 (6): 558-564 http://www.ejfa.info/ Table 1. Effect of nutrient concentration, pH, sucrose level and cytokinins on growth and developmental characteristics in Drosera intermedia. Data were recorded after 60 days of culture. Tested treatments Plant height No of Diameter of rosette No of Length of roots (mm) shoots/explant (mm) roots/explant (mm) Nutrient concentration ⅛ MS 24.34±3.60ef 4.27±1.32ab 20.16±0.04cd