Apical meristems were then dissected out and inoculated in a liquid medium which consisted of the mineral salts of Murashige and Skoog (1962)supplemented with 1 mg l−1 thiamine HCl, 100 mg l−1 inositol, 4 mg l−1 benzyl adenine (BA), and 30 g l−1 sucrose (initiation medium)