An Improved Plant Regeneration Protocol using Cotyledonary Explants from Inbred Lines of Chinese Cabbage (Brassica rapa ssp. pekinensis)

We studied the effect of genotype, explant, age of explant, medium (plant growth regulators and gelling agents), and standardized an efficient regeneration protocol for inbred lines of Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa ssp. pekinensis). Of the different concentrations of NAA and BA tested, the combination of $5\;\cal{mg/L}\;BA\;and\;0.5\;\cal{mg/L}$ NAA gave the highest frequency of shoot regeneration. The cotyledonary explants had more shoot regeneration frequency ($\ge40\%$) than the hypocotyl ex-plants. Besides, the cotyledonary explants, excised from the 4-day old seedlings, showed higher shoot regene-ration ($56.7\%$). Of the three gelling agents and their concentrations used, 16 g/L agar was found to be the best for shoot regeneration. Shoot regeneration frequency in-creased significantly by supplementing the medium with $4\;\cal{mg/L}\;of\;AgNO_3$ MS medium devoid of NAA showed higher frequency of rooting in the regenerated shoots than the ones supplemented with NAA. Our improved regeneration protocol will be especially useful for the genetic transformation of Chinese cabbage inbred lines to develop transgenic hybrids.