Morphogenetic potential of cultured leaf sections of cultivated and wild species of tomato

Leaf explants of the cultivated tomato Lycopersicon esculentum cv. Rheinlands Rhum (RR) and the mutant flacca (flc), and the two wild species L. peruvianum (Lp) and Solanum pennellii (Sp) accession Atico were cultured on a modified Murashige and Skoog's medium with various combinations of either kinetin (KN)+indol-3y1 acetic acid (LAA), Kn⁺ naphthalene acetic acid or benzyladenine+IAA.The wild species Lp, was found to have the highest morphogenetic potential as expressed by root and shoot formation in the various media, as compared with the other species. The morphogenetic response of the second wild species, Sp varied in the different media, being the poorest in the medium containing KN+LAA and better in the other media. The response of flc mutant, which is distinguished by its hormonal imbalance, was not appreciably different from that of the control normal plant, RR.