A rooting procedure for lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) and other hypogeous legumes (pea, chickpea and Lathyrus) based on explant polarity.

The present study assessed the rooting response of lentil nodal segments in relation to explant polarity, hormone, salt and carbohydrate concentrations of the medium. Nodal segments of lentil with an axillary bud cultured in an inverted orientation (apical end in medium) showed higher rooting frequencies than explants cultured in a normal orientation (basal end in medium). The highest rooting percentage (95.35%) and average number of shoots regenerated per explant (2.4) were obtained from explants placed in an inverted orientation on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium salts with 3% sucrose, supplemented with 5 microM indole acetic acid (IAA) and 1 microM kinetin (KN). Reducing or increasing phytohormone concentration did not alter significantly root regeneration of inverted explants. Sucrose at 3% allowed higher root regeneration frequencies compared to 1.5% sucrose. MS full concentration permitted regeneration of longer shoots with more nodes per regenerated shoot, compared to MS half-strength, which regenerated more shoots of shorter length and with less nodes. Inverted nodal segments of other hypogeous legumes (pea, chickpea and Lathyrus) also exhibited higher rooting frequencies than explants cultured in a normal orientation on MS medium with 3% sucrose and supplemented with 5 microM IAA and 1 microM KN. The most novel application of this study is the culture of nodal segments of hypogeous legumes in an inverted orientation. This procedure is a considerable improvement over other published procedures concerning in vitro rooting of lentil, pea, chickpea and Lathyrus.