MICROPROPAGATION OF AN ENDANGERED COMMIPHORA SPECIES (COMMIPHORA EMINII SSP. ZIMMERMANNII)

Abstract

Commiphora eminii ssp. zimmermannii is an endangered forest tree which has been kept under Data Deficientcategory. It is found in the Eastern Africa and North Eastern Zambia. Fruits are used for the treatment of typhoidfever, stomach problems, constipation, fever, snakebites and toothaches. It is valued for resin and is traditionallyused as a yam and banana support. Its propagation is quite difficult because seeds are rarely found in nature. Longmaturity and over exploitation has depleted it. The main objective was to carry out mass propagation andspecifically to determine optimum sterilization protocol, multiple shoot and root production. Explants used werecotyledonary node and leaf discs. Series of sterilization and micro propagation experiments were conducted onexplants collected from Mt. Kenya and coastal hill forests. Sodium hypochlorite and formaldehyde were used insterilization protocol. Explants were best surface sterilized after subjection to 70% alcohol for 1second andexposure to 10% sodium hypochlorite solution for 10 minutes. Four basal media were tested for their suitability inmicro propagation of C. eminii ssp zimmermannii. Multiple micro-shoots were obtained on Murashige and Skoog(MS) medium supplemented with 1.25mgl-1 α-Naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) and 1.25mgl-1 6-Benzylamino purine(BAP). Micro-shoot was significantly observed on the 0.5mgl-1 Indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) and 1.25mgl-1 BAPsupplemented MS medium. Callus was induced from leaf discs cultured on MS basal medium supplemented with0.1mgl-1 TDZ. However no somatic embryogenesis was achieved from callus. Rooting was not successful onpretreated micro-shoot (1.25mgl-1 IBA for 24 hours) followed by transfer to white’s medium without plant growthregulators (PGR). Rooting should further be tested using high concentration of activated charcoal. Success in shootproliferation and callus induction is a step in regenerating C. eminii ssp zimmermannii clonal plantlets