Ma Guohua

Effects of cytokinins and auxins on cassava shoot organogenesis and somatic embryogenesis from somatic embryo explants

Somatic embryos of cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) cultivar ‘Nanzhi 188’ were isolated and cut into fragments to be cultured on media with various cytokinins and auxins. Cytokinin induced of cassava shoot organogenesis, while auxin stimulated somatic embryogenesis. The effectiveness on organogenesis was different based on different cytokinins and in combination with auxins. Benzyladenine and thidiazuron stimulated more shoot organogenesis than kinetin and N-isopentenyladenine.

Essential Oils Composition from Roots of Santalum album L.

Abstract Essential oil from the roots of East Indian sandalwood, Santalum album L. was analyzed by GC and GC-MS. The root bark and sapwood yielded no extract. The heartwood of the plant yielded 10.3 % of oil by solvent extraction. Fifty-three compounds were detected, representing 99.9 % of the total oil. Forty-five of them were identified by close matches with standard mass spectra and those reported in the literature and by retention indices, which included 30 sesquiterpenols (78.5 %), 9 sesquiterpenes (7.8 %), 1 terpenoic acid (0.4 %), and 5 sesquiterpenoid isomers (4.4 %). The major constituents in the essential oils were α- and β-santalol, accounting for 19.6 and 16.0 %, respectively. The content of α-santalol was less than a proposed range of 41–55 %; however, β-santalol content was close to the specification of ≥ 18 %. The total content of bisabolenol A, B, C, D and their isomers was also high, 25.0 % of the oil.