IN VITRO CULTURE OF Amorphophallus titanum (Becc.) Becc. ex Archang AT BOGOR BOTANIC GARDENS Kultur In Vitro Amorphophallus titanum (Becc.) Becc. ex Arcang di Kebun Raya Bogor

In vitro culture of Amorphophallus titanum (Becc.) Becc. ex Arcang began more than a decade ago at Bogor Botanic Gardens. This paper is a summary of the last three years activities on the propagation of A. titanum. The initial cultures originated from different sources some of them were from the gardens collections. Different parts of the plant were used as explants; axillary buds of the corm, leaf veins and cataphyll. Murashige and Skoog (MS) formulation was used as the basal media; and different plant growth regulators or organic substances were added to find out the most suitable media for inoculation and for development of callus, root and shoot. Different types of cultures were developed and single shoots or multiple shoots as well as compact and friable callus were obtained from different explant sources. Zeatin added to MS medium gave the best result for shoot and root induction and the addition of banana showed promising results for shoot maturation in culture. The overall trials are described in this paper.