Micropropagation of Carnation

Carnations are commercially propagated in large scale through tissue culture. The present investigation was undertaken to optimize an efficient in vitro propagation method for three carnation cultivars viz. Malaga, Empire and Lipstick. The optimal medium for multiple-shoot proliferation from shoot-tip of cv. Malaga was found to be MS medium supplemented with 0.5 mg L-1 NAA, 0.5 mgL-1 Kinetin and 0.5 mg L-1 GA3, while in case of cv. Empire it was MS medium supplemented with 0.1 mg L-1 NAA, 0.75 mg L-1 BAP and 0.5 mg L-1 GA3 and in cv. Lipstick it was MS medium supplemented with 0.5 mg L-1 NAA, 1.5 mg L-1 Kinetin and 0.5 mg L-1 GA3 respectively. The optimal medium for multiple-shoot proliferation from nodal segment of the in vitro raised shoots was found to be MS medium supplemented with 0.5 mg L-1 NAA, 0.5 mg L-1 Kinetin and 0.5 mg L-1 GA3 for all the cultivars under study. Rooting from the in vitro raised individual shoots of the three cultivars was found to be best in MS medium supplemented with 0.5 mg L-1 IBA. High survival percentage of 90 per cent was recorded in the substrate vermiculite in all the three cultivars.