Effect of different concentrations of 6-Benzylaminopurine (BAP) on the germination and multiplication rate of selected wild bananas

Categorized as staple food, bananas and plantains had tremendous demand to meet the world's need. However, biotic and abiotic stresses such as Fusarium wilt that cause by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense gave significant loss to the production of banana. Tissue culture techniques play an important role in banana improvement breeding program. Musa acuminata ssp. malaccensis and Musa gracilis are wild bananas species native to Malaysia which offer possible resources of resistance to disease. This study was aimed to study the germination rate of embryos collected from this two different species of wild bananas on MS media supplemented with different concentrations of BAP hormone (0, 2.5, 5, 7.5 and 10 mg/L) through embryo culture technique. The relationship between germination rates with these two species were recorded and analyzed. After growing in vitro, only Musa acuminata ssp. malaccensis showed significant difference at 5 % level on germination rate of embryo. Clonal seed progenies were developed by sub-culturing individual plantlets onto the same media to provide replicates for further research such as screening of Fusarium wilt. The shoot multiplication rate of Musa acuminata ssp. malaccensis populations in MS media with 5 mg/L of BAP hormone gave the highest multiplication rate compared to the other concentrations.