Study on In vitro Establishment and Callus Induction in Banana cv. Grand Naine

Banana is conventionally vegetatively propagated through suckers, which grow from lateral buds originating from corms and suckers. This process is very slow as the rate of multiplication of suckers through conventional vegetative means has been found to express several negative impacts which include transmission of diseases, low production and poor conservation of original plant genetic material. The rapid proliferation obtained in tissue culture allows nursery men to meet unexpected demand for a particular variety. Sword Suckers of cultivar Grand Naine were used as explants in our study. Contamination is the most severe problem encountered in vitro culture establishment. Mercuric chloride alone and in combination with 70% ethanol at different time duration was used in the study for the establishment of the cultures. The contamination significantly decreased with increase in concentration of sterilants and their time of exposure. The percent of establishment of explants was recorded highest (70.0% ± 2.40) after four weeks of culturing when explants were treated with ethanol (70%) for 30 seconds + HgCl2 (0.1%) for 25 mins.MS media supplemented with 2,4-D 2.0 mg /l+ NAA 0.5 mg/l was found most effective for maximum percentage of callus formation (70.0% ± 1.00). Finally, regeneration of plantlets was achieved on MS medium supplemented with 3.0 mg/l BAP and 1.0 mg/l NAA. Our results described various factors that influence the in vitro establishment and callus formation of banana cv. Grand Naine.