In Vitro Regeneration Studies for Salt Tolerance in Safflower

Abstract

Safflower [Carthamus tinctorius (L.,)] is a oilseed crop in the compositae and cultivated in tropical and subtropical regions. Safflower shares nearly 71% of oil seed production area around the world and about 46 % in Asian countries.Safflower is one of the oldest crops cultivated by humans, yet it was remained a minor crop due to less commercialization compared to other oil yielding plants India rank fourth in safflower production and Kazakhstan producing rank first in safflower production.Drought, high salinity and low temperature are the three major environmental factors which limit plant productivity. These stresses induce series of biochemical, physiological and developmental responses in plants, which can reduce the corresponding damage.Availability of water often determines the nature and level of social development of a region. Western Vidarbha has unique features in the whole of the country in that a deeply inland area has extremely high innate soil and water salinity. A huge expanse of land mass of otherwise exceptionally high soil fertility has come to degenerate into near wastelands due to the high dissolved salts in the underground water, salts that often leach up to the surface. newlineIn current period, tissue culture has emerged as a promising technique to obtain genetically pure elite populations under in vitro conditions. Hence in vitro cell and tissue culture methodology is also crucial for germplasm conservation to ensure the survival of endangered plant species, rapid mass propagation for large scale revegetation and for genetic manipulation studies. In vitro selection has emerged as a feasible and cost-effective tool for developing salt and drought tolerant plants. Plants tolerant to both the biotic and the abiotic stresses can be acquired by applying the selecting agents such as NaCI (for salt tolerance) in the culture media. Only the explants capable of sustaining such environments with higher stress tolerance can survive in the long run and are selected. In vitro selection is based on the introd