XVI International Botanical Congess

Echinocactus platyacanthus is a globular cactus commonly used as an ornamental plant or in the elaboration of the traditional candy named acitron. This is one of the two special protected species due to both human activity and illegal cactus traffic. In this study, we try to find a rapid micropropagation method from field collected seeds at the Zapotitlan Valley in Puebla, Mexico. In a basic MS medium, without supplements, a friable callus was obtained from a single germinated seed. The production of multiple shoots (5-10) were obtained after two months and then single shoots were transplanted to growing medium containing combinations of NAA and BAP as plant growth regulators to finally obtain complete plants.