The present investigation entitled, “Studies on the effect of various sterilization procedures for in vitro propagation Of Carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus L.) was carried out at the Plant Tissue Culture Laboratory of Department of Floriculture and Landscape Architecture, Dr Y S Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan (HP) as a refinement in already existing protocol to find suitable and less hazardous surface sterilization chemicals than Mercuric Chloride which is one of the most widely used surface sterilant in micropropagation of carnation. The use of this chemical is being prohibited because of the presence of heavy metal ions in it, causing environment hazards. The necessity to consider an alternative surface sterilization agent is therefore obvious. The experiments were laid out in a Completely Randomized Design (factorial) consisting of two cultivars . ‘Parendillo’ and ‘Yellow Star’. Treatment of explants with 5 % Calcium Hypochlorite is suggested as a potential substitute for Mercuric Chloride. 100 % uncontaminated growing cultures in cv. ‘Parendillo’ and ‘Yellow Star’ were obtained with 5 % Calcium Hypochlorite treatment of explants for 10 and 15 minutes, respectively. | Studies on the effect of various sterilization procedures for in vitro propagation of carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus L.)
