Plantlet Regeneration via Somatic Embryogenesis from Hypocotyls of Common Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum Moench.)

Buckwheat sprout is used as vegetable, and also flour for making noodles, and so on. Currently, information about tissue culture in buckwheat is limited and restricted to micro-propagation. We carried out somatic embryogenesis and plant regeneration using hypocotyl segments as explant of the cultivated buckwheat species, Fagopyrum esculentum which differs from existing studies in the growth regulator combinations used. Maximum callus regeneration was induced on MS medium containing 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) $2.0mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$, benzyladenine (BA) $1.0mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$ and 3% sucrose. Friable callus was transferred to solidified MS media containing BA ($1.0mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$) with various concentrations of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid for the induction of embryogenesis. The optimum concentrations of growth regulators (for regeneration of plantlet) were indole-3-acetic acid ($2.0mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$), Kinetin ($1.0mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$), BA ($1.0mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$). Only 2,4-D did not show any significant effect on callus induction or embryogenesis. Regeneration of embryonic callus varied from 5% to 20%. Whole plants were obtained at high frequencies when the embryogenic calli with somatic embryos and organized shoot primordia were transferred to MS media with 3% sucrose. The main objective of this research was to develop an efficient protocol for plant regeneration for common buckwheat, and to apply in future for genetic transformation.