In vitro Plant Regeneration of Banana cv. Bhimkol (Musa balbisiana, BB) through Shoot Tip Culture

Bhimkol (Musa balbisiana, BB) is a wild diploid seeded cultivar, belonging to the family Musaceae. It is tolerance to pest and diseases, since it has high demand for commercialization for its high nutritive values. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to standardize the protocol for in vitro plant regeneration via shoot tips for further breeding programmes (in vitro mutagenesis). The efforts were made to improve the shoot proliferation efficacy through MS medium enhanced with different combinations of cytokinins (BAP and TDZ) and auxins (NAA) to achieve higher number of multiple shoots with shorter period. Among the different combinations of BAP, TDZ and NAA, T5 (MS + TDZ 0.1 mgL-1 + NAA 0.2 mgL-1) was recorded early response (6.60 days), percentage of explant response to initiation (93.33%), days taken for multiple shoot induction (46.40 days) and the highest number of shoots per explant (8.93). The days taken for rooting, number of roots per shoot and highest root length was noted in the treatment half strength MS + 1.0 mgL-1 IBA + 1.0 g L-1 activated charcoal.