<span style="font-size: 21.5pt;mso-bidi-font-size:14.5pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Efficient regeneration of pearl millet <i>(Pennisetum glaucum </i>(L.) R. Br.) from shoot tip cultures </span>

1274-1279<span style="font-size: 15.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:8.0pt;font-family:" times="" new="" roman","serif""="">A simple, genotype-independent and efficient method for plant regeneration using shoot tip explants of pearl millet <span style="font-size:15.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size:8.5pt;font-family:" times="" new="" roman","serif""="">(Pennisetum glaucum) <span style="font-size:15.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:8.0pt; font-family:" times="" new="" roman","serif""="">was established. Linsmaier and Skoog (LS) medium supplemented with 2,4-dichloro-phenoxyacetic acid (2 .5 mg l-1<span style="font-size: 19.5pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.5pt;font-family:" times="" new="" roman","serif""="">) and kinetin (0. 2 mg l-1<span style="font-size:19.5pt;mso-bidi-font-size: 12.5pt;font-family:" times="" new="" roman","serif""="">) <span style="font-size: 15.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:8.0pt;font-family:" times="" new="" roman","serif""="">was used for induction of embryogenic calli. Development of numerous somatic <span style="font-size: 15.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:8.0pt;font-family:" times="" new="" roman","serif""="">embryos was observed within 10 days after transferring onto Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with 6- benzyl aminopurine (2 mg l-1) and indole 3-butyric acid (0. 5 mg l-1<span style="font-size: 19.5pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.5pt;font-family:" times="" new="" roman","serif""="">) under light (16 hr photoperiod). Histological observations confirmed the origin of somatic pro-embryoids and globular embryoids. Regenerated plants established in soil, grew normally and produced fertile seeds. RAPD analysis also revealed genetic uniformity of the regenerants. The short duration of time taken for regeneration (30-35 days) and its high frequency (78-87%) makes this system highly suitable for applications such as genetic transformation.