Exploring the potential use of Moringa olifera Lam and Azadirachta indica additives in Orchid tissue culture

Abstract

This study was conducted in the Floriculture Research and Development Unit at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Peradeniya to explore the potential of Moringa olifera Lam. (Moringa) and Azadiracta indica (Neem) organic supplements for promoting Orchid invitro culture of Dendrobium spp . The Knudson C (KnC) basal media was prepared by additionally supplemented with either 5g/l, 10g/l and 15g/l of moringa powder, moringa leaf extract and neem leaf extract separately. The experiment was laid out in completely randomized design with 10 treatments having 10 replicates. One month after explant incubation, the number of leaves, shoots and roots per plantlets and shoot length were recorded. According to the results, different treatments had significantly affected the tested parameters (p<0.05). Both moringa and neem leaf extracts gave improved responses compared to moringa powder. ¼ KnC+15g/l of moringa leaf extract performed well in terms of producing increased number of leaves and roots per plantlet, whereas full KnC+5g/l of moringa leaf extract resulted the highest number of shoots per plantlet (3.5). On the contrary, neem leaf extracts (5g/l, 10g/l and 15g/l) increased the shoot length of orchid explants and produced significantly higher number of roots per plantlet. Hence, moringa and neem leaf extracts can be used to develop a simple and cost effective culture media for promoting orchid tissue culture.