Growth and Cytology of Celery Plants Derived from Tissue Cultures

Callus was initiated from petiole explants of 3-month-old celeryplants and sub-cultured at monthly intervals on a modified Murashigeand Skoog medium. 6 months later a further batch of callus wasinitiated, again from 3-month-old plants. When the first batchof callus had been sub-cultured for 15 months, and the secondbatch for 9 months, the callus from both sources was placedon a hormone-free medium to allow plants to form. Normal seedlingswere grown at the same time and when the plantlets were largeenough both the plantlets and the seedlings were transferredto individual pots and grown to maturity in a greenhouse. Thepetiole height, width and number of petioles were measured atintervals during the growing period and at one stage root tipswere excised from a number of plants in each group and the chromosomenumber counted. The growth and cytological data showed thatthe plants derived from tissue culture were not affected bydifference in sub-culture time and were very similar to theseedling plants.