Summary: | Dendrocalamus asper, a tropical bamboo variety renowned for its economic significance across industries like food, construction, and handicrafts, is presently a surge in demand for large-scale propagation and sustained supply. Traditional propagation methods are inconvenient and time-intensive. As an alternative, micropropagation techniques are opted to overcome these challenges. This research aimed to develop a micropropagation protocol for expanding D. asper bamboo through the utilization of various propagule sizes and a comparative analysis of their growth on liquid and semi-solid MS media. In vitro nodal segments were initiated on MS media supplemented with 4 mg L-1 BAP and 0.5 mg L-1 IBA. Subsequently, after four weeks, a cluster of shoots, varying in numbers (3, 4, and 5 shoots per propagule), were cultured in the same media for shoot multiplication. Propagules with three shoots exhibited the highest multiplication rate, showing a 4.9- fold increased and an average of 14.8 ± 3.5 shoots after a 5-week culture period. Following this, three shoots/ clumps were transferred to liquid and solid MS media with varied concentrations of BAP (0.5, 1.0, 2.0, and 4.0 mg L-1) to assess their growth rates. Cultures in liquid media demonstrated superior shoot proliferation compared to semi-solid media, recording the highest mean shoot number of 3.5 ± 0.8 shoots per explant in media supplemented with 0.5 and 4.0 mg L-1 BAP. The longest shoots were observed in liquid media with 0.5 mg L-1 BAP, with an average length of 3.57 ± 0.44 cm. Subsequently, the explants underwent rooting in both semi-solid and liquid MS media, supplemented with various IBA concentrations over a 5-week period, with rooting observed solely in the cultures in liquid media. The rooted plantlets were 100% survived when acclimatized in a greenhouse using a mixture of soil, sand and compost. © 2024 by the authors. Licensee ResearchersLinks Ltd, England, UK.
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