Multiplication Techniques of Pineapple cv.Phetchaburi Plantlet Production

Abstract

Multiplication techniques aiming to reduce time for plantlet production and increase the number of plantlets from mother material of pineapple cv. Phetchaburi has been developed. The experiment has been conducted at Phetchaburi Agricultural Research and Development Center during 2011-2013 in 50% shading nursery and infield plots. In nursery experiment, 3 methods of cutting; crown leaf budding, sucker splitting and stem splitting were employed with 5 replications in RCB designed. For field experiment, there were 2 treatments i.e. apex destruction and young flower removal. The result of nursery experiment showed that after 3 months there were more plantlets produced from crown leave than from sucker cutting or stem cutting. However, the height of the plantlets was lower in crown leave than the other two methods. Duration in the nursery before transferring to the field was 8-11 months for all three methods. First time production cost for sucker and stem cutting was 313,141 and 247,621 baht/rai whereas production cost per plantlet was 4.52 and 1.53 baht respectively. The cost in following production reduced to 187,012 and 121,492 baht/rai and cost per plantlet was 2.70 and 0.75 baht respectively. In the field, two destruction methods were applied to pineapple plants at 5 months after planting. The result showed that destruction at meristermatic apex produced more plantlets while the height and weight werealso greater than the removal of the flowers. Planting time to harvesting ofplantlets of both methods was 14 months. Production cost and cost per plantlet ofmethod 1 and 2 were 136,000 and 96,000 bath/rai and 0.85 and 1.09 baht respectively.