The effects of the basic medium and the carbohydrate content on shoot cultures of Hevea brasiliensis

Abstract

Woody Plants Medium (WPM) was superior to murashige and skoog medium (M S), which showed better axillary bud growth of both juvenile and mature shoot materials. The effect was more pronounced in later passages, in particular, on the survival rate of the cultures. Most of the cultures grown on M S medium did not survive more than 24-28 weeks, while on WPM medium cultures survived for more than one and a half years, until the experiment was terminated. The level of sucrose in the medium also had an effect on the growth of the primary axillary shoots, specially the length and the leaf growth. The length of primary axillary shoots incresed with the increasing levels of sucrose in the medium up to 10 per cent with clonal materials. Explants did not survive beyond 8 weeks when the medium was not supplied with sucrose.