Determination of Shooting Potential and Growth Ability of Plantain Genotypes in Macropropagation Using Saw Dust and Spear Grass (Impereta cylindrica L.)
ABSTRACT
Plantain (Musa spp.) is one of the most important food crops. To obtain seedlings, most farmers rely on natural regeneration which is a very slow process and do not yield adequate amount. Tissue cultured planting materials are highly expensive and unavailable to local farmers. To carry out macropropagation, saw dust being widely used is not easily accessible, hence, the need for accessible substrate. In this study, the use of saw dust and spear grass were evaluated as initiation media using three genotypes as test plants. Sword sucker corms whose apical dominance was physically destroyed and initiated in test media. The corms were evaluated for shooting and growth parameters. Statistically significant difference was observed for numbers of leaves per corm and leaf width at P < 0.05 while at P < 0.01, leaf length was significant. There was variable adaptation pattern of genotypes to the initiation media. With saw dust, ‘Atagafong’ had best adaptation in parameters analysed while ‘Mble paul’ and ‘Atagafong’ were better than ‘Owom’ in spear grass. ‘Mble paul’ responded poorly in saw dust but showed 100% shooting. From the work, spear grass can be used as macropropagation medium but needs enhancement on its moisture content, water holding capacity and reduction in porosity.
Keywords: Determination, shooting, growth, plantain, genotypes.
