Production of superelite planting material through in vitro culturing in banana

Abstract

Different procedures of tissue culture for clonal propagation of banana on large scale are required to meet an ever-increasing demand of genetically uniform plants of banana. As banana is a vegetatively propagated plant, therefore, propagation of banana directly through suckers or corms attached at the base of field-grown plants (conventional means) increases the chances of transmission of diseases from one generation to the next. Therefore, this chapter reviews the literature as well as describes the approaches involved in the applications of plant tissue culture techniques for mass multiplication of banana through micropropagation, somatic embryogenesis and induction of variations through gamma irradiation. As banana is a parthenocarpic and triploid fruit, therefore, micropropagation technology ensures true-to-type, rapid and disease-free multiplication of plants for quick bulking up of new clones/varieties and rejuvenation of old clones/varieties. It also serves ideal for the gene pool conservation. Therefore, an efficient protocol of micropropagation for banana cv. Grand Naine and direct somatic embryogenesis for banana cvs. Grand Naine and Robusta was standardized. In vegetatively propagated crops, the induction of genetic variation through gamma irradiation under in vitro conditions and the multiplication of desirable mutants/variants provide an alternative means to widen the scope of genetic as well as epigenetic variations. Thus, for in vitro mutagenesis, shoot tips were used as an explant, and mutation was induced using gamma irradiation. The results of this study can be used for the mass propagation of banana and for obtaining banana plants with improved quality and resistance to various biotic and abiotic stresses.