In vitro morphogenesis and micro-morpho-anatomical developments in Moringa concanensis Nimmo.: An endemic tree of Indian sub-continent

Moringa concanensis Nimmo. is a regionally important and underutilized medicinal tree of the Indian subcontinent. An in vitro morphogenesis protocol for Moringa concanensis has been developed using seedling-derived explants. The cotyledonary node explants were found to be the most suitable exhibiting cent-percent bud break with each regenerating 2.33±0.76 shoots of 1.32±0.69 cm length within 15 days on 1.0 mg/L 6-benzyl aminopurine (BAP) supplemented modified Murashige and Skoog Medium (MMS) media. The rate of shoot multiplication increased up to 10.17±2.54 shoots/inoculum by sub-culturing of regenerated shoots on 0.5 mg/L BAP along with 0.1 mg/L Indole acetic acid (IAA). The in vitro cloned shoots were rooted using both in vitro and ex-vitro methods by applications of root-inducing auxins, indole butyric acid (IBA), and naphthalene acetic acid (NAA). IBA proved to be more effective and induced roots in all in vitro raised shoots. It produced 17.72±4.83 roots/shoot with 2.12±0.88 cm length on 1/4th strength MMS media fortified with 1.0 mg/L of IBA. Ex vitro rooted plantlets with concurrent acclimatization were achieved by pre-treating shoot bases with IBA at 250 ppm for 5 min. Comparative micro-morpho-anatomical evaluation of leaf and stem revealed differentiation of non-glandular trichomes, anomocytic stomata, and vascular tissue development under applied in vitro conditions, which suggests the survivability of plantlets. Sixty percent of the in vitro regenerated plants survived in the field. It is the foremost report on in vitro morphogenesis of Moringa concanensis protocol using cotyledonary nodal explant and ex vitro rooting method. The tissue culture methods defined and developed can be used for large-scale multiplications of Moringa concanensis as non-conventional approaches.