Effective Use of Synthetic Seed Technology in the Regeneration of Dendrobium White Fairy Orchid

Subject Areas : Journal of Ornamental Plants

Wee Leng  Siew ¹ (Department of Life Sciences, School of Applied and Health Sciences, Institute of Technical Education, Singapore)
Mei Yun  Kwok ² (Department of Life Sciences, School of Applied and Health Sciences, Institute of Technical Education, Singapore)
Yong Mei  Ong ³ (Department of Life Sciences, School of Applied and Health Sciences, Institute of Technical Education, Singapore)
Hui Ping  Liew ⁴ (Department of Life Sciences, School of Applied and Health Sciences, Institute of Technical Education, Singapore)
Boon Keat  Yew ⁵ (Department of Life Sciences, School of Applied and Health Sciences, Institute of Technical Education, Singapore)

Received: 2015-08-09 Accepted : 2015-08-09 Published : 2014-03-01

Keywords: Synthetic Seeds, Dendrobium, Protocorm-like bodies, regeneration,

Abstract :

The synthetic seed technology is becoming popular due to its wide application in germplasm conservation and for exchanges between countries in the floriculture trade. In this study, this method was used to study the germination and conversion capabilities of orchid species Dendrobium White Fairy when stored at different storage times and with different storage containers. A high germination percentage of 80% was observed for encapsulated synthetic seeds up to 150 days of storage in Petri dishes and screw capped polypropylene tubes and this percentage only began to decline gradually from 150 storage days and more. Besides that, synthetic seeds stored in polypropylene tubes were shown to germinate faster and develop into plantlets with longer shoots and roots as compared to those stored in the Petri dishes. This proved the efficiency and suitability of polypropylene tubes over Petri dishes as storage containers.