Plant regeneration of Citrus sinensis var. Thamson navel using sodium alginate-encapsulated shoot tips

Citrus genus is known as one of the world's major economic agricultural products. In the current research, a method is reported for artificial seed production technology by shoot tips in Citrus sinensis.var. Thamson navel. Alginate is one of the most efficient gelling agents in the production of capsule coating in artificial seeding technique. In the current research, impact of different constituents of alginate matrix was investigated on artificial seed germination. In order to produce artificial seeds, shoot tips of Thamson navel were coated by three alginate coating including SA1 containing liquid MS and BA and NAA hormones, SA2 with liquid MS without hormone, and SA3 with distilled water. Alginate coating with BA and NAA hormones was used as control environment. The artificial seeds were then stored in the refrigerator (4 ). Following passing storage period, seeds were placed in MS solid medium with BAP (10 mgl-1) and NAA (1 mgl-1) for conversion to seedlings. Using distilled water instead of MS medium for the preparation of alginate coating significantly reduced the percentage of conversion into seedlings.