PRELIMINARY STUDY ON IN VITRO PROPAGATION OF Macaranga tanarius (Mahang)

Macaranga tanarius locally known as Mahang, belongs to Euphorbiaceae family is a native plant in Malaysia. This invasive species is mostly found in disturbed forest. Macaranga genus is a medium size tree and can grow up to 24 m tall. Macaranga genus is a fast growing species, evergreen trees with soft and light wood. M. tanarius wood can be used to produce high quality particle board and pulp besides other usage as good firewood. Phytochemical studies on M. tanarius have discovered the presence of tannin that can be used as toughing agent on fishing net as well as dyeing agent. The leaves extract of this species have shown potential as an antioxidant when tested with 2, 2 – diphenyl-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) anti-oxidant assay. Due to its benefits in multiple industries, production of sustainable and high quality planting material cannot be avoided. Tissue culture is one of the best approaches to meet this demand. In this preliminary study, surface sterilization protocol for M. tanarius using seed as explants has been developed. 3 different surface sterilization methods have been tested. Based on the percentage of contamination and response, the best method for surface sterilization of M. tanarius  is by using 30% of Chlorox® which produced more than 90% clean culture and the best response among other methods; swelling (38%), formation of roots (8%), shoots (2%) as well as minimum amount of damage tissues. Explants from germinated plantlets in vitro were further tested on four different basal medium to find the most suitable basal medium for M. tanarius growth which were full strength Woody Plant Media (WPM), half strength Woody Plant Media (½ WPM), Murashige and Skoog media (MS) and half strength Murashige and Skoog media (½ MS). Explants cultured on WPM basal medium produced healthy rooted plantlet in terms of size and colour of shoot and leaves. ½ WPM media can also induce rooting in M. tanarius whereas in MS and ½ MS media the explants turn to brown and died. For shoot multiplication experiment, WPM medium supplemented with different types of cytokinin; BAP and TDZ at different concentration have been tested. WPM medium supplemented with 0.1 mg/l TDZ showed the highest percentage of shoot induction with 100% shoot induced and average produces three new shoots per explants.