Establishment of tissues culture of pitaya (Hylocereus costaricensis)

Abstract

Pitaya plants have been proven to have the medical importance, such as reduce the cholesterol level, acts as anticancer agent, and so on. To date, research have been done to increase the number of Pitaya plants for commercializing purposes. The objectives of this study were to establish the tissue culture protocol of Pitaya, to determine the best medium and also to determine the best concentration for shoot proliferations of Pitaya. Pitaya Hylocereus costaricensis cultured were successfully established on MS and BS medium, from germinated seeds. The seeds were surface sterilized with 70% ethanol for S seconds followed by immersion in 3 % Clorox and added with few drops of Tween 20 for 20 minutes. Seven days old of germinated seeds were subcultured on MS or BS medium, with combination of auxin or cytokinins. The cytokinins used were 2ip, kinetin, TDZ and Zeatin, where as NAA was the only auxin used. The concentration of the phytohormones used were 0, 1, 3 and S mg/L, respectively.