A successful laboratory method to germinate immature orchid seeds and rapidly develop seedlings for local orchid nursery growers has been successful at National Agricultural Research Institute’s Regional Centre in Aiyura, Eastern Highlands.
Using a tissue culture technique, researchers achieved 100% germination of immature seeds from Dendrobium and Epidendrum orchid species on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium. When the medium was enhanced with gibberellic acid (GA₃) and charcoal powder, the seedlings developed fully in just four months, two months faster than those grown on the standard MS medium alone. Gibberellic acid is used to stimulate plant growth, improve crop yield, quality and overcome environmental stress.
The use of gibberellic acid and charcoal power is known as asymbiotic germination, which bypasses the natural dependency of orchid seeds on fungal conditions for germination. Orchid seeds typically lack their own nutrient source and rarely sprout in the wild without specific fungi. This in vitro approach instead provides essential nutrients and controlled growth conditions in a sterile environment, allowing thousands of seeds to grow into uniform seedlings. In vitro refers to growing of plant cells, tissues and organs in an artificial and sterile environment
According to lead researcher Winnie Maso, the method offers a practical and scalable solution for PNG’s orchid nurseries, which often struggle to produce consistent planting materials for commercial purposes. “This technique can be applied to any orchid species that produces seeds in pods,” Maso said.
The study was conducted at NARI’s Aiyura Tissue Culture Facility, where researchers optimized the growth stages from seed inoculation to seedling development under controlled temperature and light conditions.
While the method successfully produced single plantlets ready for nursery transfer, Maso noted that further work is needed to refine in vitro cloning techniques to ensure continuous supply and mass propagation of specific orchid varieties.
This technique presents a step forward for PNG’s floriculture industry, opening the door for small-scale growers to access faster and more reliable orchid propagation methods.
