Effect of plant growth regulators on in vitro culture of pineapple (Ananas comosus L. Merr) MD2 variety

Abstract

Pineapples (Ananas comosus L. Merr) are fruits that belong to the Bromeliaceae family. Pineapple variety MD2 is one of the varieties that has gained a place in the market among pineapple farmers due to its high value and quality. However, it is difficult to meet the demand for planting materials using conventional propagation techniques. Hence, plant tissue culture technology is one of the methods that has been widely used in the agriculture industry that boosts up the production of pineapple planting materials within a short period and is cost-efficient. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of plant growth regulator concentration to in vitro culture of MD2 variety pineapple. In this study, the various concentrations of 6-Benzylaminopurine (BAP) and α-Naphthalene Acetic Acid (NAA) for in vitro culture of MD2 pineapple were studied. The plantlets were effectively initiated from MD2 pineapple crown on Murashige and Skoog (MS) basal salt containing 30.0 g/L sucrose, and 2.0 mg/L BAP in two months of culture. Next, the pineapple plantlet was subculture on shooting medium containing full strength solid Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with vitamins with various concentration BAP (0, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 6.0, 7.0, and 8.0 mg/L) and NAA (0, 1.0, and 2.0 mg/L). The result obtained showed that the solid MS medium added with 30.0 g/L sucrose, without any BAP and NAA (T1) had the highest in vitro shoot regeneration. Meanwhile, the solid MS medium with 30.0 g/L sucrose with 1.0 mg/L NAA (T1) recorded the highest plantlet height (cm). The mean value for in vitro shoot regeneration in T1 and plantlet height (cm) in T1 were 2.80 (±0.5) and 4.40 (±0.3). To conclude, less amount plant hormone regulator required to obtain the mass quantity of in vitro clonal pineapple that can help solve the problem of lack of plant material in the pineapple crop industry.