In vitro Callussing of Carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus L.) cv. Scania and Indios

An experiment was conducted to standardize the protocol for in vitro callusing of two carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus L.) cultivars viz., ‘Scania’ and ‘Indios’. Different explants tried were leaf segments, nodal segments, shoot tips and apical shoots. Apical shoots were also used with or without leaves, besides nodal segments from two environments i.e., open field and polyhouse. Among all explants leaf segments and nodal segments proved best for callusing in both the cultivars. MS medium supplemented with BAP 1.00 + 2, 4-D 2.00 mg l-1 resulted in best callusing of leaf and nodal segment explants in terms of minimum days to callus initiation, maximum callus induction and callus weight per explant in both the cultivars. Minimum time (10.50 and 8.33 days) to callus initiation , highest callus induction of 91.66 and 91.00 per cent and significantly maximum mean callus weight 2.15 and 2.52 g explant-1 was recorded in media fortified with BAP 1.00 + 2, 4-D 2.00 mg l-1 in case of leaf and nodal segment explant of scania while as BAP 1.00 mg l-1 + 2,4-D 2.00 mg l-1 took lowest (12.00 and 8.00) days for initiation of callusing , 85.00 and 89.00 per cent for callus induction , and significantly maximum mean callus weight 1.93 and 2.14 g explant-1in leaf and nodal segment explants of cv. ‘Indios’.