Establishment of Axenic Explants and Callus Culture of Swietenia macrophylla King (Tunjuk Langit)

Swietenia macrophylla King or big-leaf Mahogany was mainly distributed from Mexico to southern Amazon region of Brazil and it is belongs to Meliaceae family. It is known as large deciduous tree and has been used for many purposes which mainly for medicinal. S. macrophylla seeds were used to relieve pain, diabetes and also hypertension in Malaysia. S. macrophylla is mostly propagated by seeds but this technique is not very successful. The objectives of this study are to establish an effective procedure for in vitro propagation of the S. macrophylla by using plant growth regulators. Leaves from grown seedling of S. macrophylla were used as the explants. Results showed most of the explants were found damaged and contaminated by treatment of 15% Clorox® concentration. 100% axenic culture were found by establish an effective surface sterilization protocol which involved dipping explants first in 70% ethanol for 30 seconds followed by agitating the leaf explants in 10% Clorox® concentration for 15 minutes, rinsed at least three times with sterilized distilled water before culture in full strength MS medium. The experiment on callus induction was carried out relatively successful. Result showed that 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) at 1.5 mg/l is effective for the induction of callus formation. It was found that the 2,4-D alone has potential effect as plant growth regulator for callus induction of this plant species. The study of BAP and IBA in combination for shoot and root proliferation was conducted but there is no any sign of shoot and root produced after a month of sub-culturing. Such protocol needs to be further study in order to improve the potential and modified by using other types of plant growth regulator