Multiple Shoot Induction from Seeds of Japanese Chestnut (Castanea crenata Sieb. et Zucc) and Successive Shoot Multiplication In Vitro

Abstract

Micro plant propagation of chestnut plants through reproductive organ culture was examined with seeds. (1) Multiple shoot buds were induced from chestnut seeds by BAP in vitro but not by kinetin and 2iP. Multiple shoots formed from cotyledonary nodes, an embryonic part of a seedling. Sometimes axillary buds of main shoots proliferated to grow to multiple shoots. (2) Excised single shoots from multiple shoots of initial seed cultures were continuously multiplied by using combinations of BAP (1 µM) and IBA (0.025 µM). Axillary buds of excised single shoots proliferated to be multiple shoots continuously. Three of four shoots were harvested every four weeks for further culture. One can calculate that more than 1,600,000 shoots could be obtained from a single shoot within a year using the present technique.