Plant regeneration through somatic embryogenesis from mature seed and young inflorescence of wild rice (Oryza perennis Moench).

Somatic embryogenesis in the wild rice species (Oryza perennis) was induced from cultured mature seeds and young inflorescences. Murashige and Skoog's (MS) medium supplemented with 2 mg/l 2,4-D and 0.2 mg/l BAP was used for induction of a compact, white nodular callus and somatic embryos. Plant regeneration occurred with the tranfer of the nodular callus to MS basal medium containing 0.5 mg/l IAA, 0.5 mg/l NAA, 4 mg/l BAP and 500 mg/l casein hydrolysate. The embryogenic nature of the callus from both explants was maintained over 10 subcultures for about 12 months. Plant regeneration with respect to the number of calli plated from the 6th to 10th passage varied from 80% to 60% for young inflorescence derived callus and from 75% to 69.8% for seed-derived callus.