Micronutrient Delivery System for Induction of Organogenesis in Banana in vitro Cultures

Abstract

Micropropagation techniques represent one of the technologies, which allows the large-scale production of banana and the culture medium composition is one of the major factors affecting in vitro propagation of plants. The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of a new micronutrient delivery system based on ionic Cu and Zn for inducing in vitro organogenesis in two banana cultivars in vitro cultures, Grand Naine and Pysang Ceylon. The first experiment evaluated different concentrations of BAM-FX® (0.16, 0.32, 0.64, 1.28, and 2.56 µl ml-1) added to the MS culture medium. The concentration of 0.16 µl ml-1 BAM-FX® provided the best results for in vitro shoot and root growth and development. Therefore, a second experiment was performed to evaluate the potential of combining BAM-FX® with a reduced concentration of MS medium (¼, ½, and ¾ strength), or the use of BAM-FX® alone without MS medium. Results indicate that MS at ¾ strength combined with 0.16 µl ml-1 BAM-FX® provided proper in vitro shoot and root growth and development. The use of BAM-FX® in vitro requires additional studies to verify the feasibility of this product for efficient micropropagation of banana, as well as for other species.