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EFFECT OF DIFFERENT BACTERIAL DILUTIONS ON TRANSFORMATION EFFICIENCY OF HOT CHILLI (CAPSICUM FRUTESCENS L.) VARIETIES

RABBIA HASNAT¹, N.A. ABBASI^1*, I.A. HAFIZ¹, T. AHMAD¹ AND Z. CHUDHARY²

Abstract: A reproducible and efficient protocol for two varieties of chilli (Capsicum frutescens L.) varieties Nepali and NARC-IV using different bacterial dilutions was optimized to assess its effect on transformation efficiency. The hypocotyl segments were inoculated with Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain EHA 101 harboring binary vector pTCL5. Plant response in culture was highly dependent on infection of hypocotyls with different bacterial densities. Proliferation and differentiation of calli forming plantlet as well as percentage transformation efficiency was strongly affected by the bacterial dilutions. Drastic increase in plant production from calli along with transformation efficiency was achieved at low bacterial density as compared to high density which in consequences brought about the necrosis and death of calli.

¹Department of Horticulture, University of Arid Agriculture, Rawalpindi 46300, Pakistan

²Agriculture Biotechnology Program, NARC, Islamabad, Pakistan