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Asian Journal of Agriculture and Development (AJAD) - Call for papers!

Callus Formation, Optimization and Somatic Embryogenesis in Plantain Banana

(Indonesia), Master of Science in Plant Biotechnology (Universiti Putra Malaysia)

Abstract:

 

The plantain bananas (cultivars Nangka and Tanduk) are among the most valued crop plants in Southeast Asia. However, the commercially attainable yields are very low compared to dessert bananas. Genetic modification of plantain banana offers the opportunity to add desirable gene characteristic. Somatic embryogenesis has great potential for rapid and efficient regeneration of plantlets and offers opportunities for large-scale production of plant material.

The results of callus initiation showed that treatment with 2,4-D, Picloram, and Dicamba produced callus ranging from 0 to 82 percent for cultivar Nangka and 0 to 58 percent for cultivar Tanduk. The type of callus varied depending on concentrations of plant growth regulators (PGRs) used for the initiation. The effect of 2,4-D and Picloram in combination with other cytokinins produced nodular and compact callus. The callus produced embryonic structure (13.3-66.7%) in the somatic embryogenesis medium, but no shoot regeneration was achieved. Instead, only roots were formed. In the initiation of callus from immature male flowers, 49.7 percent of flower cluster responded to form globular embryogenic callus and the highest response was from the flower of rows 12 and 13 (60%).