Effects of Different Concentrations of -naphthaleneacetic Acid and 6-benzylaminopurine on Shoot Regeneration of Vinca minor L.

Periwinkle (Vinca minor L.) is an evergreen perennial herbaceous plant that belongs to the family Apocynaceae. The aerial part of this plant contains certain alkaloids such as vincamine, isovincamine and vincine. The most important of these is vincamine that reduces blood pressure and promotes memory and the ability for mental concentration. Micropropagation could be a good alternative for the mass propagation of Vinca minor. For direct shoot regeneration, single node explants of field-grown Vinca minor cv. Budakalasz were aseptically cultured on a medium consisting of WPM salts, MS vitamins, 3% sucrose, 0.8% agar and 25 different combinations of BAP and NAA. After one month, explants were subcultured to the same medium. The number of shoots (taller than 3 mm), average shoot length, height of the longest shoot, callus amount, number of roots, and average root length per explant were measured two months after culture. The maximum shoot regeneration (5.6 shoots per explant) was obtained using 7.21 mg l-1 BAP and 0.0186 mg l-1 NAA