Effect of Gibberellic Acid and Benzyl Adenine on Plantlet Regeneration from Meristem and Growth of New Potato Clones

In order to investigate the effect of two growth regulators of gibberellic acid (GA3) and benzyl adenine (BA) on meristems regeneration and their vegetative characteristics in new potato clones, this study was conducted as a factorial experiment based on a completely randomized design. Factors that were investigated included the effect of gibberellic acid and benzyl adenine on four levels including 1- complete MS medium (control), 2- MS medium + 0.2 mg. L-1 gibberellic acid, 3- MS medium + 2 mg. L-1 gibberellic acid and 4- MS medium + 1 mg. L-1 benzyl adenine medium and the second factor included five potato clones named KSG302, KSG82, KSG48, KSG31 and KSG64. The number of growing meristems (the regenerated meristem) and some vegetative traits of reproduced plantlets including plantlet height, plantlet weight, leaves number, internode and number of nodes, number and length of the roots were measured. Results of analysis of variance showed that main effects of growth regulator, clone and their interaction were significant on meristem regeneration rate and also on all growth characteristics of the regenerated plantlets. The studied clones showed different status in the terms of plantlet growth traits in different treatments of two growth regulators. The highest plantlet weight was obtained in KSG64 clone with an average of 0.654 g in two MS mediums of 1 mg. L-1 benzyl adenine and 2 mg. L-1 gibberellic acid. Totally, the results of the experiment showed that the use of growth regulator especially benzyl adenine increased the growth vigor of plantlet, but also had a significant effect on meristem regeneration in most clones. Also, the effects of low concentration of gibberellic acid was similar to those at higher concentrations on meristem regeneration and growth vigor of the plantlets and even better in some cases.