Study on Macro-propagation of Banana cv. Nanjangud Rasabale (AAB) Using Growth Media

Abstract

Banana is a major food crop globally grown and consumed in more than 100 countries throughout the tropics and subtropics. Banana (Musa paradisiaca.) is the world’s fourth most important food crop after rice, wheat and maize. Banana is usually propagated vegetatively, since sexual reproduction is difficult due to its vegetative parthenocarpic nature. Traditionally, it is been propagated using suckers, as these are easy to obtain. But the factors limiting the adoption of this method are the lower regeneration capacity of sucker, lack of year round availability of mother sucker, fear of transmission of pests and diseases to the succeeding generation. To overcome these issues and to enable the production of a feasible amount of planting material, macro-propagation technology came into existence. Macro-propagation through the use of growth media has accounted lower cost and higher net returns, on an average cost of production of a single plantlet was only Rs. 6.58/-. From the present study, it is inferred that, a feasible amount of healthy and quality planting materials can be produced with minimum expenditure, harnessing good profitability within shorter time span.