Adventitious Shoot Regeneration from Asiatic Lily

Lily is a monocotyledonous species belonging to the Liliaceae, and one of the most important cut-flower species, mainly because of its large, attractive flowers. The Asiatic lilies are the hardiest of all the lily hybrids, they grow very well in USDA Zones 3–10, are easiest for the beginner to grow, and are the first to flower each season. In an effort to establish an Asiatic lily in vitro breeding system, we developed a highly efficient plant regeneration system for an elite Asiatic lily hybrid 'Jocelyn’s Bouquet'.  The ‘Jocelyn’s Bouquet’ is an Asiatic hybrid with multi-bloom characters, reported to produce up to one hundred blooms on a single plant. Tissue culture experiments tested pedicel, immature seedpod, and bulb-scale explants, combined with MS basal medium supplemented with different levels of BA (0, 1, 2, 4, 8 mg/L) and NAA (0, 0.2, 0.5, 1 mg/L). It took 45 days for the explants to regenerate new adventitious shoots, with the bulb scale the best initial explant material. The BA at 1 mg/L combined with all levels of NAA produced high frequency regeneration. Regenerated plants were transplanted in the greenhouse, grew well and produced normal flowers when compared with the mother plant.