International Journal of Agricultural Science Research Vol. 4(2), pp. 031-034, February 2015 ISSN 2327-3321 ©2015 Academe Research Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Effect of abscisic acid (ABA) on somatic embryogenesis in date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L)

Hussein Abdulal Bawis¹, Khalid Abdullah Bujliah¹, Mohammed Abdulmohsin Bu Ali¹, Mounir El Bellaj¹ and Abdallah Ben Abdallah^1,2*

¹Date Palm Research Centre (DPRC), P. O. Box 43, Al-Hassa-31982, Saudi Arabia.

²FAO-Project “Establishment of an International Date Palm Research Center -AlHassa” (UTF/SAU/043/SAU), P. O. Box 43, Al-Hassa-31982, Saudi Arabia.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: abdallah.benabdallah@fao.org.

Accepted 26 January, 2015

Abstract

In vitro propagation of date palm ensures large scale multiplication of genetically uniform planting material. Abscisic acid (ABA) plays an important role in the accumulation of nutritive products (proteins, lipids and glycides) during the development and maturation of asexual embryo formation. This study investigates the impact of abscisic acid on asexual embryo formation in date palm, their maturation, problem of vitrification and oxidation. Embryogenic callus was developed on MS media using the following hormone concentrations (ABA- 2.5, 1.0, 0.5, 0.25, 0.1 and 0.0 mg/l) in a culture at room temperature of ± 25°C and light for 16 h/day. Results indicated that maturation of asexual embryo of the date palm variety, Sheshi, after six months of culture and addition of ABA (1.0 mg/l in media containing NAA 2 mg/l, BAP 0.5 mg/l, and Kinetin 0.5 mg/l) resulted in a high proportion of asexual embryo formation. The study also revealed that increase in the hormone concentration resulted in decrease in the number of embryos obtained.

Key words: Abscisic acid, callus, embryos, date palm.