In vitro micropropagation of banana cv. Poovan (AAB)

Abstract: In vitro micropagation of banana is nowadays pinned towards development of disease free clones. An efficient protocol has been developed for micropropgation of banana cv. Poovan by using shoot tip as explant. The explants were cultured on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium containing different concentrations of benzyl amino purine (BAP) and thidiazuron (TDZ) for the development of shoots and inodole butyric acid (IBA) for root induction. MS medium supplemented with TDZ was found to be effective for shoot multiplication than MS medium supplemented with BAP. The highest average number of shoots (7.1) for each explant was found in MS medium containing 1.0 mg L^-1 TDZ, while, the maximum of five shoots were produced per explants in MS medium containing BAP (3 mg L^-1). The result of this study showed that the maximum multiplication of shoots (8) was obtained in MS medium containing BAP (3 mg L^-1) and TDZ (0.5 mg L^-1) with four successive subcultures. Shoot elongation was found to be the best in MS medium containing GA₃ (0.4 mg L^-1). The well-developed shoots were transferred to the rooting media after three to four subcultures. More number of roots were produced in the medium having IBA (1.0 mg L^-1). Rooted plantlets were successfully transferred to plastic pots containing autoclaved garden soil, farmyard manure and sand (2:1:1) for hardening. Regenerated plantlets successfully established in field and showed morphological characters identical to mother plants with success rate of 90 per cent. These findings suggested that the protocol might be used for commercial production of disease free Poovan clones through micropropagation.