Precocious in vitro flowering in threatened ornamental orchid, Dendrobium ovatum – Decoding the causal factors

Abstract

Dendrobium has been the focus of floral industries for decades. Wild Dendrobiums serve as germplasm for creating hybrids in the cut flower industry and are priced high. But, fewer reports exist on the wild tropical species of Dendrobium. The present study reports in vitro flowering in Dendrobium ovatum - an epiphytic orchid species endemic to the oriental tropics. The seedlings are raised from the protocorms and protocorm-like bodies. This research also highlights the traits displayed by the in vitro flowers of D. ovatum. An optimized modified MS medium was developed to enhance the flowering in the orchid species. The pre-treatment methods, notably dark incubation for 12 h and prechilling at 15 °C for 2 h, demonstrated the synthesis of pharmacologically relevant bioactives viz., ‘Moscatilin’ and ‘Resveratrol’. The tissue culture system devised can decode the enigmatic reproductive biology and its underlying molecular regulation of D. ovatum. This strategy could be emulated in other horticultural, medicinal and food crops for producing industrially relevant phytochemicals.

Keywords

• Dendrobium ovatum
• Half-strength MS medium
• In vitro flowering
• Moscatilin
• Resveratrol