Effects of culture medium type and plant growth regulators on in vitro culture of Sorbus persica Hedl.

Sorbus persica Hedl. is an Iranian endemic slow-growing tree (fam. rosaceae) and is endangered. It is important in terms of the gene storage, environmental protection, and medicinal uses. To in vitro propagate this species by the lateral bud culture, a factorial experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design in three levels of culture medium and three levels of cytokinin with three replications. For shooting, the DKW, WPM, and MS culture media containing the cytokinins BAP, Kin, and 2ip, and for rooting, the complete and modified DKW, WPM, and MS culture media containing the auxins NAA and IBA separately and in a consecutive application were investigated. The results showed that the best sterilization treatment was a consecutive application of sodium hypochlorite 20% (v/v, 15 min) and mercuric chloride 0.1% (3 min) in summer. The best proliferation and longitudinal growth of shoots was observed in the MS medium containing IBA (0.01 mg l-1), Kin (0.25 mg l-1), and BAP (3 mg l-1) growth regulators. Also, the best rooting was obtained in the DKW medium with a quarter of the concentration of macroelements containing the NAA+IBA hormones (0.3+0.3 mg l-1).