In Vitro Shoot Multiplication of Two Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) Genotypes using Shoot Apical Meristem

Conventional propagation of sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) is limited due to low propagation rates, its time demand and potential transmission of pathogens through seed cane from generation to generation. In vitro propagation is the best alternative to overcome such limitations of conventional propagation. Hence, this study was initiated to optimize a protocol for rapid in vitro multiplication of two sugarcane genotypes (B4906 and Pr1013) grown in Ethiopia. This experiment was carried out in completely randomized design (CRD) with 2x5x5 factorial treatments arrangement of genotypes, BAP (0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, and 2.5 mgl-1) and NAA (0, 0.2, 0.3 0.4, and 0.5 mgl-1) in combination. Analysis of variance revealed that the interaction effects of genotypes, BAP and NAA were very highly significant (p< 0.001) for number of shoots/explant, shoot length and leaves/shoot. On MS media with 1.5mgl-1 BAP and 0.4mgl-1 NAA, B4906 gave the highest (16.88±0.5) numbers of shoots with 5.94±0.17 cm shoot length and 6.33±0.29 leaves/shoot. Whereas 2mgl-1 BAP and 0.5mgl-1 NAA resulted in a maximum of 11.70±0.28 shoots with 4.48±0.08 cm shoot length and 4.95±0.11 leaves/shoot for Pr1013. It could be concluded that the optimized protocol is useful for rapid clonal multiplication of sugarcane planting materials. Keywords: apical meristem, BAP, multiplication, NA