SKUAST Journal of Research

Banana, a major global crop, is predominantly propagated vegetatively,but faces significant challenges from viral and pathogenic diseases that impact yields. In India, advanced cultivation practices and tissue culture methods have driven growth in banana production, addressing limitations of traditional propagation by producing uniform and disease-free plants. Micropropagation is integral to genetic improvement, germplasm conservation, and hybrid regeneration, providing solutions to biotic and abiotic stresses such as Fusarium wilt,Sigatoka, and Banana Bunchy Top Virus (BBTV). This study was performed at the College of Horticulture, Sirsi, Karnataka, focused on producing high-quality micro propagated banana planting materials using local cultivars (G9 and Yellaki), ensuring stakeholders access competitive, disease-free plant material. During this research the experiment findings shows that the highest shoot proliferation (80%) was observed in the MS medium supplemented with 5.0 mg/L Benzyl aminopurine (BAP). The maximum adventitious root formation occurred in Full-strength MS medium containing 1.5 mg/L Indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) and 1.0 mg/L Naphthalene acetic acid (NAA). After three weeks, the in vitro grown plants were transferred to polybags containing a 1:1 ratio of soil and sand for hardening, and later moved to the garden, where they exhibited a 75% survival rate. In this study, a straightforward two-step protocol was developed, utilizing MS medium with 5.0 mg/L BAP for shoot proliferation and 1.5 mg/L IBA + 1.0 mg/L NAA for rooting in banana. This protocol could be applied for the large-scale in vitro production of banana plantlets.