Effect of Varying Concentrations of Growth Regulators on Micro Propagation of Ginger

Ginger cultivation is susceptible to diseases resulting in huge crop losses. Tissue culture is a potential tool that can produce a large quantity of disease free high quality clonal plants in a short period of time. In the present study, protocol for in vitro propagation of high yielding ginger cultivar has been standardized using young rhizome buds as explants and its performance was evaluated on MS media supplemented with growth regulators. Young rhizome buds of 0.5-2.0 cm size were surface sterilized using 0.1% HgCl₂ before inoculating on MS media fortified with benzylaminopurine (BAP) and naphthalene acetic acid (NAA). Maximum mean number of shoots (12.3±33) and maximum shoot length (6.92±0.18 cm) were observed in MS medium with BAP (4 mg/L) and NAA (0.5 mg/L). In vitro raised shoots rooted well in MS media, where maximum number of roots per shoot (9.33±0.67) were attained in MS media augmented with BAP (1 mg/L) and NAA (1 mg/L) while longest root length (4.60±0.22) was observed in a combination of BAP (3 mg/L) and NAA (1 mg/L). Potting mixture of cocopeat:vermiculite:perlite (1:1:1) resulted in maximum survival percentage (72.7±1.45%) during hardening and acclimatization.