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Hyptis marrubioides (Lamiaceae) is a medicinal plant that is native from Brazilian Cerrado. In vitro propagation techniques make use of elicitors to alter metabolic pathways, affecting how molecules are produced both qualitatively and quantitatively. This research aimed to evaluate how abiotic elicitors salicylic acid (SA) and silver nitrate (SN) at concentrations of 30μM or 60μM influence Hyptis marrubioides seedling growth by two different in vitro culture methods. The rutin content was quantified by HPLC-DAD. Compared to an untreated culture, the H. marrubioides methanolic extracts cultured in MS medium for 10 days followed by culture in MS medium containing SN (30μM) for 20 days had 1.28 times higher rutin content. In a second experiment, seedlings were cultured in MS medium for 20 days, and then the desired elicitor was added to the culture and allowed to remain in contact with the medium for three and six days. SA (30μM) gave the best results: rutin production was 16.56-foldhigher than the control after six days. SN (30μM) increased the rutin content by 1.17-fold. At the two concentrations evaluated during the elicitation experiments, neither SA nor SN altered the growth parameters shoot length, leaf number, and fresh and dry weight of H. marrubioides seedlings grown in vitro as compared to the control. Based on these results, the abiotic elicitors SA and SN successfully provide Hyptis marrubioides with increased rutin content in vitro. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peltophorum dubium (Spreng.) Taub is a forest species native to Brazil endowed with promising forestry features for the purposes of afforestation. However, production of seedlings of high quality through micropropagation is limited by the reduced root formation. As a result, the present study aimed to evaluate the effect of alternative substrates to the agar and the culture period in the in vitro formation of roots. It was tested at 30 and 60 days of in vitro culture, culture media composed of combinations of substrates vermiculite (V), Plantmax® (P) or fine sand (FS) to MS nutritive medium containing 10 µM of 3-indole butyric acid (IBA), with agar or not (A). Was obtained a high survival rate of shoots both the 30 (92.3%) and 60 (82.6%) days of culture. Most culture media yielded high survival (91.1 to 100%) but those containing (P) constituted exceptions. Intense calli formation was observed only after 60 days of culture, in the control, which contained MS and (A), and in those other two treatments containing (V). The best result of root formation as much quantitatively (36.78%) as for the quality were obtained on treatment that included (V) and (A), in addition to MS at 60 days of culture. With the use of (V) in the culture medium there is intense calli formation after 60 days of culture but also there is higher root formation and improvement in the quality when this substrate is combined with nutritive medium MS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Somatic embryogenesis and in vitro plant regeneration are fundamental processes in the obtainment of transgenic maize plants. Explant, genotype and culture medium are determining factors in these processes. Immature embryo explants and the American Hi-II genotype have been widely employed to acquire genetically modified plants in this species. However, the use of more readily available explants is desired as well as the development of genetic transformation protocols for productive genotypes adapted to local conditions. This study provides an evaluation of immature tassel explants in relation to embryogenic callus production and plant regeneration in South Brazilian maize genotypes for their use in genetic transformation experiments. Immature tassels from 5 hybrids were cultivated in different callus-induction media. The frequency and the fresh mass of embryogenic calli were evaluated. The frequency was influenced by genotype, and the fresh mass was influenced by genotype and culture medium. In plant regeneration, shoots, complete seedlings and acclimatized and fertile plants were quantified. Treatments producing long term embryogenic calli from immature tassels of South Brazilian genotypes with the capacity to regenerate were identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The banana is a fruit with a great economic importance, especially for the region of the "Vale do Ribeira", the largest producer in the State of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Seedlings growth is one of the main steps to be observed and performed with the utmost care to avoid contamination of materials and their proliferation in field conditions. Currently, the micropropagation technique has been used to obtain the seedlings, resulting in material free of pathogens, which gives greater security to the producer. The use of micropropagation results in higher cost of seedlings, what is compensated by the quality. One way to reduce the cost of this technique is reducing the amount of agar present in the culture medium. The objective of this research was to evaluate the response of banana to different compositions of culture medium, and the development of the seedlings. We have tested concentrations of agar: 0.0 (control), 1.2, 2.4, and 4.8 g L-1, mixed in MS medium, forming an experiment in 2 x 4 factorial scheme (cultivars x doses of agar ). After 25 days of transplant, we estimated the average plant height (cm), number and average length of roots (cm), dry mass of shoots and roots (g). Considering the results, we concluded that there is no need to use agar in the composition of the medium culture medium as for micropropagation of cultivars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]