Optimizing hormonal regimes for enhanced responsiveness of shoot tip explants in mungbean (Vigna radiata L.)

The present investigation entitled “Optimizing shoot organogenesis in mung bean (Vigna radiata L. Wilczek) through hormonal modulation” was conducted at the Plant Tissue Culture Laboratory, Biotechnology Centre, Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, Akola (M.S.) during the academic year 2024-2025. Mung bean is a nutritionally rich pulse crop, but its regeneration through in vitro culture is often inconsistent, creating obstacles for biotechnological applications. To address this, the present work focused on the regeneration response of shoot tip explants under different cytokinin-auxin combinations, using percent responsive explants as the primary criterion for evaluation. Shoot tips of two mung bean genotypes, AKM-4 and PKV Green Gold, were cultured on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium enriched with varying concentrations of BAP, kinetin, TDZ, NAA, and IAA.A distinct variation in regeneration potential was observed across genotypes and hormone treatments. The highest percentage of responsive explants (63.00%) was obtained in PKV Green Gold cultured on MS medium supplemented with BAP (0.5 mg/l) and NAA (0.5 mg/l), followed closely by AKM-4 (62.00%) under the same treatment. Media containing only BAP resulted in moderate responses, whereas kinetin-and TDZ-based formulations showed comparatively lower efficiency. The control, lacking growth regulators, consistently gave the minimum regeneration response, confirming the essential role of exogenous PGRs in shoot induction. These findings emphasize that shoot tip explants can be successfully regenerated in mung bean when cultured under optimized cytokinin-auxin regimes. Furthermore, the slight genotypic differences in responsiveness underline the importance of genetic background in tissue culture performance. The standardized protocol obtained in this study may serve as a reliable basis for future mung bean improvement through micropropagation and genetic transformation approaches.