MSc

The study entitled “Standardisation of micropropagation technique in ivygourd (Coccinia grandis (L.) Voigt.) variety Sulabha” was conducted at the Department of Vegetable Science, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, during 2017- 2019 with the objective to develop an efficient, large scale multiplication protocol for the regeneration of C. grandis var. Sulabha from shoot tips and nodal explants. The experiment was laid out in completely randomized design with three replications and four cultures per replication. Culture media tried for the experiment were bud proliferation medium, shoot multiplication medium and rooting medium. Shoot tips and nodal segments from tender shoots of Coccinia grandis var. Sulabha, maintained in the experimental field of Department of Vegetable Science, were taken as the explants. The explants were surface sterilized using 0.1 % mercuric
chloride for 3 minutes.
Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with Kinetin (Kn) and Benzyl adenine (BA) individually and in combination was used as bud proliferation medium, which consisted of eleven treatments, BP1 to BP5 [(MS + Kn (0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.5 and 1 mg L-1)], BP6 to BP10 [(MS + BA (0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.5 and 1 mg L-1)] and
BP11 (MS + Kn 1 mg L-1 + BA 1 mg L-1, the best of the above two sets of treatments
in combination). The treatment BP10 (MS + BA 1 mg L-1) exhibited significantly higher response for days to bud initiation (5.50), number of shoots per explant (1.75), and shoot length (5.71cm), with cent percent response. Minimum number of shoots (0.58) was observed in the treatment BP6 (MS +BA 0.1 mg L-1), which was on par with BP7 (MS + BA 0.2 mg L-1) (0.67). Minimum shoot length (0.29 cm) was observed in the treatment BP6 (MS + BA 1 mg L-1), which was on par with BP7 (MS + BA 0.2 mg L-1). Bud proliferation was not obtained, when shoot tip was used as explant.
The shoots obtained from the best treatment BP10 (MS + BA 1 mg L-1) were transferred to shoot multiplication medium consisting of BP10 (MS + BA 1 mg L-1) along with different concentrations of IAA (0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.5 and1 mg L-1) and IBA


(0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.5 and 1 mg L-1). The treatment SM8 (MS + BA 1 mg L-1 + IBA 0.3
mg L-1) exhibited maximum shoot length of 8.67 cm after 3 weeks of transfer from bud proliferation medium. The minimum length of shoot (1.08 cm) was obtained in SM1 (MS + BA 1 mg L-1 + IAA 0.1 mg L-1). Percentage of response was calculated for all the treatments. All the treatments containing IAA responded less than 50 %, except SM4 (MS + BA 1 mg L-1 + IAA 0.5 mg L-1), which exhibited 50
% response. All the treatments containing IBA showed 50 % or more response, except BP6 (MS + BA 1 mg L-1 + IBA 0.1 mg L-1), which showed a response of
41.67 %. Highest percentage of response for shoot multiplication was recorded in SM8 (MS + BA 1 mg L-1 + IBA 0.3 mg L-1) (83.33 %).
Shoots were transferred to different rooting media i.e MS + BA 1 mg L-1 supplemented with different concentrations of IAA (0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.5 and 1 mg L-1)
and IBA (0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.5 and 1 mg L-1) individually for root initiation. The treatments exhibited significant difference for days to root initiation, no. of roots per shoot, root length and rooting percent. Earliest root initiation (11.08 days), maximum number of roots per shoot (7), longest root (9.69 cm) and maximum
rooting percentage (83.33 %) were recorded in SM7 (MS + BA 1 mg L-1 + IBA 0.2 mg L-1).
Rooted plants were transferred to protrays containing autoclaved red soil, sand and coir pith compost in 1 : 1 : 1 ratio for hardening under high humidity and subsequently to small pots, after 15 days under greenhouse conditions for further establishment. Emergence of new leaves was observed within 6-7 days.
The study revealed that bud proliferation in nodal explants of Coccinia grandis var. Sulabha was achieved in MS medium supplemented with BA 1.0 mg L-1, shoot multiplication in MS + BA 1.0 mg L-1 + IBA 0.3 mg L-1 and rooting in MS + BA 1.0 mg L-1 + IBA 0.2 mg L-1 among the different treatments tried.