Effect of cytokinins on shoot regeneration from cotyledon and leaf segment of stem mustard (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Brassica juncea</Emphasis> var. <Emphasis Type="Italic">tsatsai</Emphasis>)

Cotyledon and leaf segments of stem mustard (Brassica juncea var. tsatsai) were cultured on Murashige and Skoog medium supplemented with various concentrations of different cytokinins 6-benzyladenine (BA), N-(2-chloro-4-pyridyl)-n-phenylurea (CPPU), 6-furfurylaminopurine (KT) and thidiazuron (TDZ)] in combinations with different levels of α-naphthalene acetic acid (NAA). The shoot regeneration frequency of cotyledon and leaf segment was dependent on the kinds and concentrations of cytokinins used in the medium, while in most cases cotyledon gave high regeneration frequency than leaf segment. TDZ proved to be the best cytokinin to induce shoot from both cotyledon and leaf segments compared to BA, KT and CPPU. The highest frequency of shoot regeneration was 61.3–67.9 % in cotyledon and 40.7–52.4% in leaf segment respectively when 2.27 or 4.54 μM TDZ was combined with 5.37 μM NAA. Next to TDZ, CPPU was also very suitable to induce shoot formation both in cotyledon and leaf segment. When 1.61 μM CPPU was combined with 2.69 μM NAA, shoot regeneration frequency was 45.0% in cotyledon and 36.4% in leaf segment, respectively. It was also shown that KT and BA affected shoot regeneration from cotyledon and leaf segment, the shoot regeneration was greatly increased when NAA was added together with cytokinins. The efficient and reliable shoot regeneration system was developed in both cotyledon and leaf segments. This regeneration protocol may be applicable to the improvement of this crop by genetic engineering in the future.