Abstract:
Aglaonema unyamanee Tricolour is a monocotyledonous foliage plant with
high economic value, mainly propagated through vegetative stem cuttings.
Thidiazuron (TDZ) is a synthetic plant growth regulator contributes to
enhance micropropagation cycle via shoot multiplication and elongation in
aroid plants. However, for Aglaonema, the effect of TDZ is unknown. As
such, unravelling the TDZ is vital for ornamental plant industry. The
objective of this research was to determine the best hormone concentration
of TDZ for shoot proliferation and elongation of Aglaonema. The explants
were derived from matured healthy mother plants and obtained inter-nodal
segments (1cm long), then were surface sterilized and introduced into fullstrength MS media. The cultures were incubated at 26 ± 2ºC under16 h daily
illuminations with white fluorescent light. After one month, newly developed
clean shoots were taken to transfer into treatment media. Here, five
concentration of TDZ viz 0.0mg/L (T1, Control), 1.0mg/L (T2) 1.5mg/L
(T3), 2.0mg/L (T4) and 2.5mg/L ( T5 ) were introduced. Then the cultures
were incubated at 26 ± 2ºC under16 h daily illuminations with white
fluorescent light. Our results indicated that, a concentration of 1.50 mg/l of
TDZ resulted in the highest shoot length (24mm), while a concentration of
2.5 mg/l led to the highest number of shoots per explant (18) after a 2-week
period. The shoot bud production increased with the TDZ concentration,
3.6/plant with 2.5 mg/l, while lowest (1.0) in without TDZ. These initial
findings demonstrate that the use of TDZ can effectively enhance both the
multiplication and elongation of shoots in Aglaonema Tricolour, However,
further research is needed based on subculturing practices.
