Regeneration of coffee plantlets through tissue culture techniques in India

Many in vitro techniques have been proved successful in Coffea spp. and to date plant regeneration from mature leaf, orthotropic stem explants, apical buds and axillary buds and embryos was accomplished by several workers elsewhere. At Central Coffee Research Institute, work on tissue culture aspects was initiated during 1985, with main aim of utilising these techniques for the improvement of cultivated coffee. Starting with the field grown plants of Coffea arabica L. and C. canephora Pierre, a suitable sterilization procedure was devised for orthotropic stem explants and callus was also obtained in Murashige-Skoog basal medium. Subsequent plantlet regeneration was achieved in secondary cultures through embryogenesis. Plantlet development was obtained from the cultures of immature embryos of San Ramon cultivar. In this article the procedure adopted for these techniques and results obtained are described