In vitro rooting and acclimatization of plantlets of banana (Musa paradisiaca Linn) ‘Ambon Kuning’

Ambon Kuning is a popular cultivar of banana in Indonesia because of its good taste and flavor. One way to increase its production is by providing high quality planting materials by use of tissue culture techniques. This study aimed to investigate the effects of plant growth regulators and activated charcoal on in vitro rooting of banana shoots and the effects of media and fertilization on the survival of plantlets of banana ‘Ambon Kuning’ during acclimatization. In the first experiment microshoots were aseptically cultured in six treatment media, namely MS 0, MS+2 g/l activated charcoal, MS+1 mg/l NAA, MS+2 mg/l NAA, MS+1 mg/l IBA, and MS+2 mg /l IBA for six weeks. The experiment was carried out in a completely randomized design with three replications. Each replication consisted of three bottles, one microshoots per bottle. In the second experiment, plantlets were subjected to factorial treatment. The first factor is three types of mixed media, namely M1 (husk charcoal: compost: sand: cocopeat), M2 (husk charcoal: compost: sand) and M3 (husk charcoal: compost). The second factor was fertilization, namely P0 (without fertilization) and P1 (with fertilization). The experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with three replications, eight pots per replication, one plantlet per pot. All of the data were subjected to analysis of variance and the mean separation was done using the least significant difference test at 5% level. The first experiment showed that all of the microshoots produced roots. The addition of IBA had no effects on rooting, while the addition of NAA significantly induce rooting. In the second experiment, all the treatments resulted in 100% survival rate. The best plantlet growth was acchieved by M1 (husk charcoal: compost: sand: cocopeat) media. Fertilization led to better growth of plantlets. Results of this research confirmed the previous results that generally auxins induced rooting and that fertilization promoted growth of plants.