USE OF DATE PALM SYRUP AS A SUBSTITUENT FOR SUCROSE IN TISSUE CULTURE MEDIUM OF JOJOBA

Most developing countries are limited in maximizing tissue culture technology due to the overhead costs involved. Date palm syrup has been evaluated in media for embryogenesis, shoots and the production of secondary metabolites from plant tissue culture. In the systems examined, higher productivity was obtained with media containing date syrups than with comparable media containing sucrose. So, in the present study the suitability of date palm syrup for the In vitro culture of jojoba was used in substitution of carbon sources as low cost alternative to sucrose. Different concentrations of date palm syrup (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14 and 15 g/l) as a substituent for sucrose as carbohydrate source in culture media for micro-propagation of jojoba, and sucrose (30 g l-1) used as control were used for In vitro buds/shoot multiplication of jojoba. Results have shown that lower concentration of date syrup (1,2,3,4,5,6,7 g/l) have successfully induced bud formation and shoots multiplication reached to 7 shoots per culture, whereas higher concentrations (up to 8 g/l) have lower resulted in shoot multiplication. The results have shown that date syrup at concentration of 3-6 g/l improved production of bud and shoots. Moreover lower and higher concentration of date syrup minimized the number of shoots produced. This is the first report on the use of date palm syrup in the micro-propagation of jojoba.