This study was carried out for two parts of experimental work: tissue culture and post harvest. The present research is devoted for tissue culture study. The present research was carried out at Horticulture Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Mansoura University to study the effect of explant types, shoot tip and nodal cuttings with 1,2 and 3 axillary buds and different growth regulators (BA, Kin, AS, BG) on micropropagation of Aster novi-belgii (F. Asteraceae). Murashige and Skoog (1962) medium was used and supplemented with sucrose (30g/l) and 7g/l Agar agar.
The obtained results showed that benzyleadenine (BA) at 1 ppm was significantly effective in enhancing the number of shoots per explant and induced more callus formation on the base of shoot tip explant than the other used growth regulators, i.e, kinetin (Kin), adenine sulphate (AS) and phloroglucinol (PG). Concerning the response of nodal explant type to growth regulators, the data indicated that the explants have 2 or 3 nodes were significantly effective in enhancing the number of shoots / explant, shoot length, leaves number per shoot and callus formation. Also, the highest response of shoot number / explant was recorded by benzyleadenine (BA).
The effect of interaction between nodes number / explant and growth regulators showed that the highest number of shoots / explant was obtained with the combination of three nodes / explant and benzyleadenine(BA) at 1 ppm, while kinetin (Kin) at 1 ppm combined with three nodes / explant was the most effective in enhancing roots number / shoot. Well rooted shoots were acclimatized successfully on a media of (1:1 , v/v) Peat moss and sand to obtain good seedling of Aster novi-belgii.