LARGE SCALE PRODUCTION OF FEMALE PLANTS OF Simmondsia chinensis (Link) Schneider THROUGH SYNTHETIC SEED TECHNOLOGY

Simmondsia chinensis (Family- Simmondsiaceae) is an industrial shrub commercially exploited for its liquid-wax, extracted from the seeds having high economic importance. To solve the problem associated with male biased ratio in a field, mass production of female plants becomes inevitable. Synthetic seeds would provide for effective production, germplasm exchange and distribution of female plants. A reliable protocol for synthetic seeds production in S. chinensis has been developed using encapsulation of axillary buds. The axillary buds from established cultures using the nodal explants in Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with 2.0 mg/l Benzyl aminopurine (BAP) and 1.0 mg/l Naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) plus 40 mg/l Adenine sulphate (AdS), were used for synseed production. The plantlet conversion efficiency was highest in synthetic seeds developed with 3.0% sodium alginate and 100 mM Calcium chloride with 40 g/l sucrose in MS medium. This combination gave the earliest bud initiation (9.64 days) with maximum number of shoots per explant (4.64 shoots) and shoot length (3.95 cm). Microshoots derived from synseed culture, inoculated on to ½ strength MS medium with 2 mg/l IBA and 200 mg/l activated charcoal gave the best rooting response with 3.92 roots per plant and 3.17 cm root length. The regenerated plantlets from encapsulated beads were showed 80% survival rate. This is the first report of synthetic seeds using axillary buds of female S. chinensis for mass propagation.