COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF TWO BAP CONCENTRATIONS WITH MULTIPLE INCISION TECHNIQUES FOR ENHANCED SHOOT MULTIPLICATION IN TISSUE-CULTURED LAKATAN [MUSA ACUMINATA COLLA (AA)]

Abstract

A successful large-scale micropropagation of Musa acuminata Colla (AA) ‘Lakatan’ would greatly contribute if efficient and optimal protocol will be established on improving cytokinin–induced shoot proliferation. This experiment was to determine the effects of the concentration of 6–benzylaminopurine (BAP) and the combined impact of multiple incisions on in vitro corm proliferation. The explants were placed in the Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium under treatments T1 (20 mg·L⁻¹ BAP) and T2 (30 mg·L⁻¹ BAP) with uniformly performed multiple incisions. Thirty explants per treatment were assessed throughout their four different developmental stages (establishment of explant, protrusion, leaf–like, and plantlet) in every 15 days for the total 60 days of inoculation. The experiment was arranged following a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). Data were analysed statistically by Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and differences were partitioned by using LSD (p ≤ 0.05). Shoot proliferation in Treatment 1 was significantly increased over that in Treatment 2 with this effect, which is most significant when observed from protrusion to shoot bud stages. Higher 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP) concentrations (30 mg·L⁻¹ BAP) led to diminished efficiency, and this could be attributed to possible inhibition caused by excess cytokinin. Thus, an additive effect of moderate concentrations of BAP and wounding can promote both meristematic and inducing shoot responses. The reported results led to the formulation of an enhanced procedure for accelerated micro-propagation of Lakatan banana.