Abstract

Pomegranate is an excellent and highly remunerative fruit crop for arid and semiarid regions the world experiencing frequent climatic vagaries, irrigation water scarcity and marred with edaphic challenges. In recent past pomegranate cultivation has grown leaps and bound across the globe particularly in India owing to its amazing nutraceutical properties, versatile adaptability, huge market demand and impressive return on investment. To match with the pace of pomegranate expansion the large-scale propagation of quality planting material is of numero uno importance. The bacterial blight, wilt and other sapling or potting mixture transmitted diseases are major threats for the sustainable pomegranate production and demand for QPM production to avoid spread of these diseases. The micropropagation offers the scope of producing disease-free elite saplings in bulk to support sustainable pomegranate production.

Keywords: Micro-propagation; In vitro; Pomegranate; Bio-priming

Abbreviations: AC: Activated Charcoal; PVP: Polyvinyl Pyrollidone; WPM: Lloyd and McCown (1980) Woody Plant Medium, MS: Murashige and Skoog (1962) Medium, QPM: Quality Planting Material