Germination and flowering in Arabidopsis thaliana in sterile culture

Abstract

The optimal conditions for the germination, growth, and flowering of an Indian strain of Arabidopsis thaliana were investigated in sterile culture. Seeds require a cold treatment to germinate, and the most effective temperature is 8°C for 48 hours. Germination after vernalization is promoted by red light and inhibited by far-red. Unvernalized seeds germinated after 31 days and flower buds appeared in 61 days. On verbalization and subsequent transfer to a temperature of 25°C and a light intensity of 4300 lux of fluorescent light, plants flowered in 25 days. Under 7000 lux of light rich in both blue and red region of the spectum, plants flowered in only 12 days. A minimum of five long-day photocyeles appeared to be necessary for flowering. Kinetin (10^-7M) and gibberellic acid (10^-7M, 10^-6M) accelerated flower formation. Kinetin and 2,4-D also catised specific types of callussing from different regions of the plant.