Somatic embryogenesis and plantlet regeneration from Shea tree

Stocks of Vitellaria paradoxa (Shea tree) plant in the wild are increasingly threatened by land transformation and harvesting and there is need to propagate this tree to avoid its going into extinction and also encourage commercial plantation of this plant. In vitro callus initiation of Vitellaria paradoxa was developed. The experiment was set up using complete randomized design. Each concentration of plant growth hormone was poured into four bottles and five explants cultured. The first experiment was done to achieve the best surface sterilization protocol for its tissue culture since there is no standing protocol. The best decontamination was achieved by surface wiping a 3 to 4 days old leaf with 70% ethanol and then soaked in 3% sodium hypochlorite for 20 minutes, prior to this procedure the explants was washed with detergent and tween 20 (polyoxyethylene(20) sorbitan monolaurate). The surfaces of 3 to 4 days old leaf explants were exposed to a range of different concentrations of plant growth regulators. The treatment of explants with single concentrations of auxins (2,4-D: 2,4-dichloroxyphenoxyacetic and Pichloram) did not initiate callus after 3weeks up to 12 weeks.