Proliferation of female inflorescence explants of date palm

This study was conducted to determine the effect of Abscisic Acid (ABA) and Ancymidol on proliferation of female inflorescence explants of date palm. In the first experiment two lengths of spathe at (5–7 cm) or at (7–10 cm) were cultured on nutrient media which consist of half macro and full micro-salts of MS medium supplemented with gradual decreasing in concentration of Abscisic Acid (ABA) and Ancymidol from 4.5, 3.0, 1.5 to 0.5 mg−1. In the second experiment two phases of nutrient medium (solid and liquid) and two sources of carbon were investigated. Gradual decreasing of ABA concentrations from 4.5 mg−1 to 1.5 mg−1 in culture medium, stimulated the production of direct somatic embryos and accelerated callus initiation, but at the last decrement (0.5 mg−1) of Ancymidol concentration few embryos were produced. Callus initiation from inflorescence explants gave high production and good development of somatic embryos when cultured on the liquid medium supplemented with 40 g−1 sucrose. All direct or indirect somatic embryos obtained in these experiments were converted successfully to healthy normal plantlets which could be transferred to an acclimatization stage.