In vitro regeneration of Anacardium occidentale from shoot tip and basal part

Abstract

The culture of cashew (Anacardiumoccidentale L.) is the main source of income for populations in northern Côte d'Ivoire, with an estimated production of 725 000 tonnes in 2017, but the average yield remains low likely due to the lack of elite planting material and hence use of unselected plant material by mostfarmers. For mass propagation of such a material, in vitro methods are necessary. Unfortunately, it is difficult to obtain surviving explants from mature plants grown in the field, whereby explants from seedlings obtained by in vitro germination are the most suitable for micropropagation of cashew.The objective of this study was to propagate under in vitroconditionselite plants of Anacardiumoccidentaleto be used as planting material. In Nangui Abrogoua University laboratory,shoot tip and basal part explants derived from vitroplants of 16-day-old were transferred onto Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium containing different concentrations of cytokinins.After one month of culture, the induced shoots were placed onto different strengths of MS medium withvarious concentrations of sucrose and auxin. The highest number of buds (9) was recorded with the basal explants on medium supplemented withThidiazuron (TDZ) at 0.01 mg/l. The highest shoots (3 cm) were obtained with these sameexplantson a medium without growth regulators. A½ MS with 60 g/l of sucrose and 5 mg/l of IBA induced the highest rooting percentage (72%) and number of roots (4 roots) in a short time (16 days).