Study on factors affecting the embryo cultureTechnique of musa acuminata ssp. malaccensis

Fusarium Wilt becomes one of lethal disease and gives worst scenario to banana plantation industry. It had caused a lot of loss to banana plantation industry and farmers around the world. The wild progenitors of the cultivated bananas co-evolved with the F. oxysporum f. sp. cubense (Vakili, 1965) offering a possible source of resistance to the Fusarium wilt disease. Embryo culture technique (in vitro) is a valuable and best tool for breeding purpose by exploiting genetic variation of wild banana. Two samples of wild banana Musa acuminata spp. malaccensis were harvested from two different sites that showed an early sign of Fusarium disease at Dabong, Gua Musang. Seeds from both samples were extracted from the matured fruit bunch and undergone two different sterilization treatments whether with 3% sodium hypochlorite or 70% ethanol. The 3% sodium hypochlorite solution had shown higher germination rate with 31.12% compared to ethanol treatment which is 26.39%. Then, the embryos of wild banana seeds from both samples were cultured in the MS media by using between two different techniques either surface technique or submerged technique. The surface technique had shown higher germination rate with 29.23% compared to submerge which is 28.13%. The best maturity level for culturing embryo is from 7 days to 14 days after harvested.