In vitro Regeneration and Callogenesis of Libidibia ferrea

Libidibia ferrea (Fabaceae) is a valuable medicinal species in the Amazon, but as it is a protected plant, collection from natural populations is forbidden. Therefore, establishing an efficient system for in vitro regeneration and to improve callogenesis of this species is desirable. To determine the optimal nutritional factors needed for shoot multiplication and callus induction, different culture media, plant growth regulators and LED light sources were tested. The data were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) and means compared by Tukey’s test at p < 0.05. We observe that explants inoculated in the Murashige and Skoog (MS) media with 0.05 mg L-1 of 6-benzilaminopurine (BAP) and cultivated under red-blue LED induced the highest number of shoots (3.67), number of buds (3.13), multiplication rate (15.67) and shoots length (22.03 mm) when compared with other treatments. MS and B5 media supplemented with 2.21 and 4.42 mg L-1 of 2,4-D induced 100% formation of friable callus cultivated under red-blue LED, demonstrating that the light quality significantly influenced callogenesis. Obtained results confirmed that in vitro regeneration and callogenesis is a useful strategy in the protection of endangered species. In this way, a new renewable source of biomass with high quality plant material is presented aiming at the bioprospecting of seedling extracts and friable callus to obtain secondary metabolites of this medicinal plant.