**2.4.1 Methodology**

126 Fungicides for Plant and Animal Diseases

Fig. 4. *C*. *arvensis* plants after four weeks of *in vitro* culture showing flower development.

they reached an average of 23.44 mm at the 4th week of *in vitro* culture.

MS+1mg/L BAP

MS+2mg/L BAP

Fig. 5. Effect of different culture media on the number and length of shoots of *C. arvensis*.

Culture medium

*Catharanthus roseus*, an important medicinal plant of Apocynaceae family, is an herbaceous sub-shrub, also known as Madagascar periwinkle and *Vinca rosea* (synonym). Worldwide has been extensively studied by different groups and has been identified to be a source of numerous active principles of therapeutic importance. It is cultivated mainly for its alkaloids (Taylor et al., 1975), with anticancer activities (Jaleel et al., 2009). *Catharanthus* 

MS+1mg/L

BAP+0.1mg/L NAA

Shoot number Shoot length (cm)

MS+2mg/L

BAP+0.1mg/L NAA

0

MS

**2.4 Micropropagation of** *Catharanthus*

2

4

6

8

10

12

The weak response of NAA was also observed by ÇoÇu et al. (2004) with hypocotyl and cotyledon *explants* of C. *officinalis* concluding that the addition of KIN and NAA to culture media reduced the frequency of shoot organogenesis. Considering the length of the shoots, Nodal segments of *Catharanthus roseus* were collected from plants that were potted. *Explants* were disinfected with a 40% (v/v) sodium hypochlorite solution for 15 min. and finally rinsed 3 times with sterile distilled water (10 min./wash). After that, *explants* were inoculated in MS media alone or supplemented with BAP (1 or 1.5 mg/L) alone or combined with 0.2 mg/L of IBA (indole butyric acid) or NAA. All the media were supplemented with 30 g/L sucrose. To evaluate the effect of culture medium in the development of *explant*s was recorded, over eight weeks, the number and length of their shoots and roots, the number of internodes and the presence and diameter of *calli*.
