Sugar palm (Arenga pinnata Wurmb Merr.): A review on plant tissue culture techniques for effective breeding

Abstract

This review paper outlines the plant tissue culture works done on sugar palm (Arenga pinnata Wurmb Merr.); a tree under the family Arecaceae and genus Arenga cultivated mainly for its sugary sap, sweetened endosperm and highly valuable industrial black fibers. Plant tissue culture technique is a method of growing plant cells, tissues and organs on an artificial nutrient medium under controlled aseptic conditions. Plant tissue culture is a revolutionary biotechnological tool which facilitates successful breeding programs and research of many incredible plant diversity particularly of species which are facing the risks of extinction, plants of valuable economic importance and plants with morphological and physiological sterility and incompatibility. The taxonomy, botanical description, population distribution, ecology and climate requirement, horticulture practice as well as the economic contributions and challenges of sugar palm were also described.