In vitro propagation of Banana (Musa sp - Rasthali variety) from sword suckers for its commercial production

Abstract

Banana is the fourth most important fruit crop, in the world as well as in India. In vitro propagation of bananas provided excellent advantages, including a high multiplicationrate, physiological uniformity and the availability of disease-free material all round the year, faster growth in the earlier stages in comparison with conventional plants. An efficient micropropagation method has been developed in banana plants using the sword sucker explantscultured on MS medium with different phyto hormonal supplements for shoot and rootproliferation. The shoot proliferation was found best (80%) in the MS medium containing Benzylaminopurine (BAP) 2.0 mg/l. Maximum percent of adventitious root formation wasobserved in half strength MS medium supplemented with Indole butyric acid (IBA)1.5mg/land Napthalene acetic acid (NAA) 1.0mg/l. After three weeks, in vitro grown plants weretransferred to the poly-cups containing 1:1 ratio of soil and sand respectively for hardening and then transferred to garden in which showed 75% survival efficiency. In the present studya simple two step protocol was established using MS medium with 2.0mg/l for shoot proliferation and 1.5mg/l IBA + 1.0 mg/l NAA for rooting in banana. This protocol might beused for the massive in vitro production of the plantlets of banana.