In vitro plant regeneration from axillary buds of Hibiscus syriacus L.

Presently, we report a simple, reproducible and high frequency plant regeneration in Hibiscus syriacus L. using axillary buds. H. syriacus was regenerated from axillary buds directly or through a callus phase. Regenerated shoots were directly induced from young and fresh axillary buds cultured on Murashige and Skoog medium (MS) supplemented with 0.01 mg/L of the growth regulator thidiazuron (TDZ) after 2 weeks of culture. Directly induced shoots were transferred to hormone-free MS medium and root development was observed after 6 weeks. On the other hand, old and stale axillary buds were regenerated to shoots via callus induction on MS medium containing 0.01–2 mg/L TDZ after 4 weeks. A TDZ concentration of 0.01 mg/L was most effective in callus formation. Green callus was transferred to MS medium containing 0.01 mg/L α-naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) and 0.5 mg/L benzylaminopurine (BA). After 4 weeks, callus had developed into multiple shoots. Plantlets were formed from 10 week cultures of single shoots on hormone-free MS medium. Regenerated plantlets were cultured on MS medium for one month and then transferred to pots containing garden soil. Potted plants were acclimatized for one month and grown to maturity under greenhouse conditions. The present study has shown that various concentrations of plant growth regulator can be effective for in vitro plant regeneration of H. syriacus. The direct and indirect regeneration protocol presented here will be useful for understanding the manipulation and propagation of H. syriacus.