Impact of Different Sucrose Concentrations on Shoot Multiplication of Papaya (Carica papaya L.) Cultured in vitro

Abstract

Papaya is a heterozygous plant commonly cultivated by seed but, unfortunately, they are not true to type. Moreover, the hybrid seed varieties like the Red Lady are very highly expensive. Hence, tissue culture techniques offer an alternative method to produce a million clones within a short period and a reasonable price. Thus, the current study aimed to optimize the shoot multiplication rate of papaya (Carica papaya L. cv. Red Lady) in vitro. Five concentrations of sucrose (10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 g.L-1) were applied for the papaya shoot proliferation. Results demonstrated that the 30 g.L-1 sucrose was significantly superior in the rate of shoot numbers (4.1 shoots. explant-1), shoot length (0.90 cm), (2.7 leaves. shoot-1), leaf area (1.40 cm2) and fresh weight (0.192 g) in compared with other sucrose treatments. Whereas, the 40 g.L-1 sucrose treatment was significantly superior in dry weight of shoot compared to the other treatments, which recorded 0.058 g. While the treatment of 10 g.L-1 sucrose recorded the lowest values in shoot numbers, length, and dry weight. Current study conclude that the 30 g.L-1 sucrose is the best concentration treatment that must be used in papaya micropropagation, where it gives  the maximum rate  of shoot numbers and other morphological traits.