Identification of the most organogenic-responsive variety of tomato using the variety x medium interaction

The in vitro culture of tomatoes was initiated with the goal of creating an edible malaria vaccine which could be successfully expressed in tomatoes. The identification of the best culture medium and of the most suitable tomato variety was performed by conducting variety x media interaction study. Six tomato varieties were used in order to carry out the tissue culture experiment, namely Roma, Brandy, Pink Girl, Pineapple, Rutgers and Summers. The cotyledon explants used for this experiment were obtained from 7-10 days-old seedlings placed on six different culture media. All the media contained MS salts with different concentrations of Zeatin and auxin. These are: MS+1Z, MS+1Z+.05IAA, MS+1Z+.01NAA, MS+2Z, MS+2Z+.05IAA, MS+2Z+.01NAA. Cultured cotyledons were grown for a period of 8 weeks, data being recorded by counting the number of plants regenerated from each explants and also by scoring shoot initiation response percentages. Data were analyzed using Statistical program SPSS and the mean differences were compared by Duncan's multiple range test. The culture medium which recorded the highest number of regenerants was MS + 1Z + .05IAA, this medium performed significantly better than the MS+ 1Z+ .01NAA medium. Brandy and Roma tomato varieties have produced significantly higher number of regenerants, although these varieties did not perform better against all media.