Tissue Culture and the Analysis of Ploidy Stability of Musa (ABB) ‘Namwa Mali-Ong’

Abstract

Shoot apices of Musa (ABB) ‘Namwa Mali-Ong’ were cultured to study shoot
formation on Murashige and Skoog (1962) (MS) medium supplemented with different
concentrations of N6-Benzyladenine (BA), α-Naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) and 15%
coconut water which consisted of 15 treatments and were cultured for 8 weeks. The result
showed the most suitable medium, providing 100 percent shoot induction and the highest
average number of shoot/apices (2.00 shoots/shoot apices), was MS medium
supplemented with 15% coconut water. All healthy regenerated shoots and roots were
then transplanted to the greenhouse. The results exhibited that 100% of the survival
plantlets were planted on rice-husk ash : coconut dust: sand in the ratio of 2 : 1 : 1. Flow
cytometric analysis of young leaves collected from mother plants and micropropagated
plants showed no difference in ploidy level.