Abstract:

Somatic embryogenesis studies were carried out on 11 Turkish lentil cultivars. Lentil seeds were sterilized and germinated in Plant Growth Regulator (PGR) free MS (Murashige and Skoog) medium. Cotyledon, hypocotyl, root, shoot tip, leaf and nod excised from sterile grown seedlings and embryos were excised from sterilized seed and incubated in MS, B5(Gamborg's medium), SH (Shenk and Hildebrandt) and WH (White) media with different PGRs. Six of 11 cultivar gave potentially embryogenic callus. Solid media studies were carried on with the six cultivars. Four embryologically best callus producing cultivars of 6 were used in suspension culture studies. 2,4-D (2, 4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid), NAA(1-Naphthaleneacetic acid), BAP(6-Benzylaminopurine) were used in different concentrations and combinations to produce callus and somatic embriyo. Zygotic embryo was found to be best potentially embryogenic callus producing explant. MS with NAA and 2,4-D were determined to be embryogenic callus reporoductive conditions. BAP produced adventitious shoot rather than embryogenic callus. As a result, calli were tranferred to liquid culture and somatic embryos of Yerli Kırmızı, Sazak 91, Kafkas and Pull 11 cultivars gave best globular, heart and torpedo shapes embriyos in MS medium supplemented with 0.3-1 mg/l NAA.

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