Mass Clonal Propagation through Shoot Tip Culture of Male Budless Banana

The possibility of clonal propagation of banana through tissue culture was explored. Rapidly multiplying cultures of dessert banana clones (cv. Binathuri) were established from shoot tips on a MS medium supplemented with various concentrations and combinations of auxins, cytokinins and coconut water (cw). The effects of these supplements on the rate of shoot multiplication were tested. Among the treatments MS medium with 3.5 mg/l BAP+ 0.5 mg/l KIN + 0.5 mg/l IAA produced the highest number (3.75 � 0.234) of average shoots per explant. The established shoots rooted well when they were excised individually and implanted in half strength MS medium with different concentrations of auxins. The number of shoots responded for rooting and their survivability was higher in media with IBA than media in NAA and IAA. MS+1.0 mg/l IBA produced the highest number (4.55 � 0.302) of roots/shoot. The rooted plantlets were successfully transferred in polybags and finally were well established in the field.