Somatic Embryogenesis in Korean Ginseng (Panax Ginseng C.A. Meyer)

Abstract

Korea ginseng (Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer) is perennial medicinal plant. Ginseng plants are troublesome for cultivation and require a period of more than 3 years to produce seeds. At time of seed harvest, zygotic embryos of Korean ginseng are still in an immature globular stage, thus the seeds require stratification and cold treatment for several months. Therefore, tissue culture procedures could contribute to clonal propagation and breeding in ginseng. In many reports of Korean ginseng tissue cultures, the regenerated plantlets from somatic embryos developed into multiple shoots without or inadequate roots, indicating low plant conversion (Butenko et al 1968, Chang and Hsing 1980, Shoyama et al. 1988). However, little is known what is the main problem of ginseng plants not forming well-developed roots. The present paper deals with the regenerative ability of somatic multiple and single embryos arising directly from ginseng cotyledons on medium without any growth regulators.