In Vitro Organogenesis of Fagopyrum esculentum Moench (Polygonaceae) as a Method to Study Seed Set in Buckwheat

In vitro organogenesis may provide a method to reduce the very large number of observations required for in planta studies on seed set in Fagopyrum esculentum. Plants were regenerated from leaf petiole explant tissue of buckwheat seedlings. Maximum shoot regeneration was induced on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium containing Gamborg’s vitamins, 6-benzylaminopurine (BA), 6, -dimethylallylamino-purine (2iP) and 2,3,5-triiodobenzoic acid (TIBA) at 1 mg L each, and sucrose at 30 g L. Whole plants were obtained at high frequencies (up to 98%) when the shooting explants were transferred to half-strength MS media without growth regulators for rooting and then to vermiculate followed by soil mix in greenhouse conditions. Regenerated plants were studied for vegetative, floral and seed characteristics in comparison with buckwheat plants developed from seeds. Plants regenerated by organogenesis were 33% shorter than those developed from seeds, with lower pollination frequency and smaller seeds but the number of seeds per raceme and percentage of seed set did not show any significant differences. In addition, the number of aborted seeds per raceme was significantly lower (by 40%) in plants developed from in vitro organogenesis than those grown from seeds. This regeneration system may be valuable for studying the problem of low seed set in common buckwheat. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________