Investigation of within and between population variations in drumstick (Moringa peregrina (Forssk.) Fiori) in immature seed growth

Plant responses to micro propagation may have genetic basis with quantitative or qualitative inheritance modes. Investigating of variations within and between populations of drumstick (Moringa peregrina (Forssk.) Fiori) through culturing immature seeds and embryos, for responding to micro propagation, were the main objectives of this study. A high number of immature seeds and embryos were collected from six different habitats of the species located at South part of Sistan and Baluchestan. These were aseptically cultured on 7 different mediums. A number of morphological traits were recorded on the growing genotypes for two successive times. The studied populations showed significant differences based on the length and width of the collected immature seeds. But they were not significantly different based on several other characteristics in the first time records. Number of lateral roots and shoot length were significantly different between the populations at this stage. There were significant differences between the studied culturing media based on several studied characters. Regarding significant interactions between the population and the culture media, WPM was the best for growing more mature seeds (collected from Bent and Chanf). Whereas, less mature seeds grown better in the media with higher calcium sources. The differences between the populations were revealed for number of root, root length and plantlet length based on the second time records. Significant interaction between the populations and media in several recorded characters showed that the alteration of the response of the plant populations were not similar across the media.