Accelerated production of clonally-true banana propagules via in vitro regeneration system

Banana (Musa spp.), one of the most important economical fruit crops, belongs family Musaceae. It is a major staple food crop that globally occupied the fourth position next to rice, wheat, and maize and in addition, it serves as a cash crop in form of the cornerstone to a number of country’s economy. An accelerated, innovative and efficient in vitro single-step concurrent multiple shoot and root development protocol was successfully developed in Musa acuminata cv. Grand Nain, popularly called as “Chiquita banana” which has eminent potential for export market. Shoot tip explants were inoculated in Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium individually fortified with 0.5—1.5 mg/l of 6-benzyladenine (BA), kinetin (KIN), meta-Topolin (mT), thidiazuron (TDZ) and zeatin. The maximum number of shoots was obtained in 0.5 mg/l TDZ and the same medium resulted in substantially higher number of true roots as well. The minimum time to fresh shoot initiation and maximum shoot elongation was found in MS medium supplemented with 1.5 mg/l KIN. However, earliest root induction, multiple root formation and elongation was observed in MS medium with 0.5 mg/l KIN. By and large, TDZ (0.5 mg/l) was found to be optimum medium in terms of accelerated simultaneous shooting and rooting. During acclimatization, these plantlets survived and proliferated best in cocopeat in contrast to other substrates (such as sand, soil—sand, vermicompost—soil, perlite and vermiculite). Eventually, the clonal fidelity assessment of the in vitro regenerants using ISSR primers produced monomorphic bands and thus no genetic variation was detected within in vitro regenerants as well as with their mother plant