Influence of Amino Acids on the Secondary Somatic Embryogenesis Proliferation Process of Moroccan Cork Oak (<i>Quercus suber</i>L.)

The present study aims to explore the regeneration potential of Moroccan cork oak through the secondary somatic embryogenesis process. Particularly, we focus on the analysis of amino acids influence on the quantity and quality of the regenerated secondary embryos. The amino acids tested are: Glutamine, asparagine, arginine, tryptophane, methionine, casein hydrolysate and urea. Each amino acid is added in the Margara (N30K) medium at different concentrations ranged between 10 and 500 mg/l. The results are collected after 2 months of culture. First analysis shows that the glutamine and the casein hydrolysate gives a maximum number of somatic embryos, clusters and pre-embryos newly formed on the clusters. By comparison to the control medium, the increase of the secondary embryos number directly formed exceed 36% in the case of casein hydrolysate and 35% of in the case of glutamine both at the concentration of 30 mg/l. However, the test of the combination of these amino acids did not have any significant results. In terms of quality, the influence of amino acids on the morphology of secondary embryos was analyzed.