Study of multiplication of banana ( Musaacuminata cv. berangan) shoots derived from sword suckers and growing buds under in vitro condition

Bananas (Musa sp.) have played an important role in human civilization as it is the world's fourth most important food crop after rice, wheat and maize in gross value of production today. The main aim of this study was to identify the multiplication of shoots derived from two different explants, sword suckers and growing buds. Multiple shoots were produced by both explants in this study. Average, there are 2.57 shoots/sucker and 2.5 shoots/growing buds. However, growing bud has a higher contamination rate compare to sucker. Due to this reason, the sterilization method was modified in order to reduce the contamination rate of growing buds. Double sterilization with sodium hypochlorite seems effective as the contamination rate has been reduced. When double sterilization was discovered, the time was insufficient for the growing buds to produce shoots due to time constraint. Further study on in vitro multiplication of banana shoots derived from growing bud should be carried out to identify the capability of growing buds to be used in tissue culture in the future.