Comparing sexual and asexual micropropagation potential for reduction of juvenile phase in Phalaenopsis orchid

Orchids are one of the most popular plants in the world and among them Phalaenopsis genus have the most sales in a Global Market. Because of its hard propagation, micropropagation technique has been employed recently. In this study, we tried to find out useful protocol for commercial production through in vitro culture. At first, for seed capsules production, flowers were pollinated with hand in different months. Afterwards, their seeds were compared for percentage and speed of germination in ½ MS, Vacin & Went and Chen media. The highest percent of seed germination (% 83.37) achieved from Chen medium. After that nodes on the Flower stalk were studied for their shoot formation potential. The best result (15.3 produced planets from one node) obtained from MS medium contained 4.40 mgL-1 BA and 1 mgL-1 NAA. Then, sterile leaves from produced plants were inoculated on Chen medium supplemented with TDZ, BA and NAA hormones in different concentrations for protocorm production. Best result was obtained (58.26 protocorm per explant) from 3 mgL-1 TDZ treatment. Finally, plants transferred to greenhouse for acclimatization and cultured on two different media. Plants produced from seed, node and leaf showed 99%, 100% and 93% survival on medium two, respectively. The shortest time span from acclimatization to flowering (16 month) of plants was achieved from plants obtained from nodes.