In vitro propagation of wild yam, Dioscorea wightii through nodal cultures

In vitro culture of Dioscorea wightii belongs to the family Dioscoreace. An efficient micropropagation protocol was developed for the medicinal plant Dioscorea wightii using nodal segments for axillary shoot proliferation. Callus initiation was stimulated at the basis of the explants in 100% of the cultures by 0.15-1.75μM BA, 0.75-5.0μM Kinetin, 0.15-0.30μM 2iP.The average fresh mass of calluses produced under these latter conditions was significantly promoted by increased concentrations, and BA at 1.75μM supported the highest callus fresh mass per explant, ca. 253mg. Shoots were produced in 100% of the cultures by all growth regulators tested BA, 2iP, and kinetin. The optimized micropropagation, callus, shoot and root culture protocols offer the possibility to use cell/organ culture techniques for vegetative propagation and secondary metabolism studies.