pebeju

I have about 10 seedlings of Ensete glaucum, and some of them are showing lateral shoots. It is surprising for me since there must be a single embryo per seed, and furthermore E glaucum is single stemmed in cultivation. Just wondering if anyone else has observed something like this ... some weeks back I saw on facebook someone posted a picture showing somthing similar in a Musa seedling.

sunfish

A pic would help

pebeju

Something like this... (hope the link is ok)

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...count=1&ref=nf

jmoore

They aren't E Glaucum seeds, they are a musa, probably a hybrid.

pebeju

Hi Jmoore, you are right, the link is for a musa seedling, but even in this case I guess a single shoot should arise from a single seed?

With regard to glaucums, I will take pics of my seedlings and post them ...

Thanks

jmoore

Yes we'll need to see the seed. It's not beyond the realms of possibility that an ensete can have more than embryo which would lead to more than one shoot.

pebeju

Ok, did not know that single Musa/Ensete seeds could contain several embryos: do you have any reference for this? I cannot find any, so I would be really interested in reading more on this subject.

In my case the Ensete embryos were isolated from seeds and individually established in vitro. I was able to isolate only single embryos from every single seed. Moreover, upon germination, in every vessel there turned out to be a single shoot showing up, at least during the first weeks. Now, once the seedlings seem to be growing and maturing a bit, some basal shoots are forming. I did not add any hormone to the culture medium and therefore I was not expecting this to happen.

Any thoughts?

Thanks;
Juan

jmoore

We need some photos.

Seeds can create several embryos in the same way that animals can. They are more prominent in hybrids. I don't have any literature only experience and the experience of others. There are several threads in different forums on this site about multiple shoots from the same seed.

If you excised your single embryos and are growing them in vitro and without hormones and they are producing basal shoots then I would question whether they are ensete glaucum at all and more likely to be a musa. That's why we need photos.

pebeju

Thanks jmoore, here you have the pics:

1. Different size of different Ensete sp. seeds. Squares are 4x4 mm:



2. Excised Ensete glaucum embryo 16 days after in vitro culture initiation. The cotyledon (orange-brown) is in contact with the medium:



3. E. glaucum seedling showing a single lateral shoot:



4. E. glaucum seedling showing multiple lateral shoots: two on the right and another two not visible behind the main shoot:

jmoore

That looks excellent. I shouldn't worry too much about it. Musas would do the same thing there is a dormant meristem at the base of each leaf.

Can I ask what you are hoping to achieve by germinating ensete glaucum in this way? Are you hoping to micropropagate? Are you are hobbyist or are you doing this as part of a project? Can I ask what your protocol was for sterilising the seeds and the make up of the medium you used?

pebeju

Hi jmoore, I am just surprised with this behavior and was curious why they do form pups in vitro while they tend to stay singly stemmed in nature.

The idea was to micropropagate by getting first single plants in hormone-free medium and then to induce some proliferation by adding cytokinins ... but the plants decided to go their own way and formed lateral shoots even without hormones. Nice, I would say, so far no problem with that from my side.

A good thing with all this is the speed of the growth. The last 2 pics are just 4 weeks old cultures ... from an excised embryo to a branched plantlet.

I should check for the disinfection protocol used for the seeds, don't have it mind but probably a standard one with commercial bleach. The medium is plain MS.

I would like to try it also with the other Ensete species for wich I have seeds: ventricosum, livingstonianum and lasiocarpa. Would be really nice to try it with difficult to germinate species. I always had it in mind for Musa ingens, but so far it has impossible to get seeds of this plant.

jmoore

I shouldn't waste your time with Musa Ingens.

I have Ensete Perrieri seeds, which you can have. I'm not holding out much hope of them ever germinating in a normal way.

pebeju

May I ask why?

Good, it would be nice to try yours in vitro. If it works I could send you flasks. What is the size of these perrieri seeds and how many could you send?

Manabanana

may i ask about origin of that liquid in the jars?

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