An improved medium for adventitious shoot formation and callus induction in Beta vulgaris L. in vitro.

Six sugarbeet (Beta vulgaris L.) lines (GWI-248, SPB-11, MonoHy 55, SMS-1, EL45 and FC607) were tested for regeneration. Shoot cultures were initiated in vitro from naked, sterilized embryos obtained from mature seed. Excised petioles from cultured shoots were plated on Gamborg's B5 medium and four modified Murashige and Skoog (MS) media. A medium containing MS inorganic salts supplemented with 0.4 mg/1 N(6)-benzyladenine, 0.1 mg/1 indole-3-butyric acid, ten vitamins and six amino acids, termed RV, was superior for both adventitious shoot and callus formation. Callus was observed only on RV medium and only on petioles that did not develop adventitious buds directly. Rooting of regenerated shoots and development of complete plants was accomplished by transfer to Gamborg's B5 medium with 5 mg/l indole-3-butyric acid as the sole phytohormone. The complete process of regeneration through adventitious shoot production took from 4 to 6 weeks from explants to rooted plants. The callus that formed on nonorganogenic petioles was regenerative when transferred to fresh RV medium. Regeneration from callus occurred mainly by shoot organogenesis but also by somatic embryogenesis at a low frequency.