The plumules of newly-excised wampee embryos, which are more sensitive to dehydration than the roots, became more resistant to water loss when axes were allowed to sprout on woody plant medium [WPM; McCown and Lloyd (1981) Hortscience16, 453] before being dried. Pre-treatment of sprouting axes (seedlings) with sucrose incorporated in the WPM enhanced survival. Although the roots withered following further dehydration of seedlings cultured on WPM containing 60% sucrose, excised plumules were capable of generating adventitious roots when a combination of 10 mM α-napthaleneacetic acid and 10 mM indole-3-butyric acid was used during subsequent in vitro incubation.
