Advanced Journal of Seed Science and Technology ISSN 2812-3425 Vol. 3 (1), pp. 072-074, March, 2016. © Advanced Scholars Journals

Full length Research paper

In vitro seed germination of endangered Nepalese orchid species: Dendrobium fimbriatum Hook.

*Gaurav Parmar and Rajendra Acharya

National Herbarium and Plant Laboratories, Godawari, Lalitpur, Nepal.

*Correspondence author Email: [email protected]

Accepted 22 February 2016.

Abstract

Dendrobium fimbriatum Hook., a native epiphytic orchid of high ornamental and medicinal values, is found at an altitude of 200 to 2100 m in Nepal. In vitro seed germination and shoot development of this orchid was carried out on 0.8% (w/v) agar solidified Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium and the medium supplemented with various combinations of α- naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) and 6- benzylaminopurine (BAP). The germination of seed started after five weeks of culture in three different hormonal combinations of the medium viz. hormone free MS medium, MS medium supplemented with 0.5 mg/L NAA and MS medium supplemented with 0.5 mg/L BAP and 0.5 mg/L NAA. First shoot initials were observed after 11 weeks of culture on MS medium supplemented with 0.5 mg/L BAP and 0.5 mg/L NAA; and the medium combination was found to be the best condition for the development of shoots followed by hormone free MS medium and the MS medium supplemented with 0.5 mg/L NAA which both gave shoots after 12 weeks. Under different tested combinations of the medium, the germination percentage was found to vary from 90 to 100%.

Key words: Dendrobium fimbriatum, in vitro, seed germination, MS medium.