S21 - Session P1 - Stationary liquid medium enhanced micropropagation of plantain (Musa sp. aab cv. ‘agbagba’)

Authors: Catherine Oluwakemi Esuola *, Olufunmilayo A. Amoran

Micropropagation of bananas and plantains ( Musa spp.) is a technique for large scale production of uniform and healthy planting materials. The technique is expensive, mainly due to costly gelling agents. There is need for alternatives that are less costly and help farmers get clean organic planting materials at cheaper rate. Here we report the use of stationary liquid medium compared to plant tissue culture grade agar solidified medium for in vitro proliferation of plantain. A total of twenty regenerated plantain ( Musa sp. AABcv. 'Agbagba') tissue culture materials each were separately cultured in stationary liquid medium and plant tissue culture agar solidified medium in a completely randomized design. The experiment was repeated thrice. After 21 days, data were collected on plant height (cm), number of new plantlets, number of leaves, number of nodes, leaf length (cm), root length (cm), and root number. The results indicated significant (P < 0.05) increases in mean plant height (61.7%), mean number of new plantlets (52.8%), mean number of leaves (48.7%), mean number of nodes (50.1%), mean leaf length (73.2%), mean root length (45.4%), and mean root number (55.7%) in the stationary liquid medium when compared to the solid medium. The stationary liquid medium saves cost of micropropagation of plantain and thus recommended for rapid multiplication of plantain plantlets.