Evaluation of Sucker Category for In Vitro Bud Proliferation and Genetic Association of Mother and Surrounding Suckers of Musa spp

Commercial production of plantain (Musa spp) is challenging due to insufficient planting materials as vegetative propagation using the same planting materials year after year causes cultivar decline due to pathogen load. Although different types of plantain suckers (maiden, sword and peeper) are available as sources of ex-plant for in vitro propagation, there is a dearth of information on the appropriate type of sucker to be used as source of ex-plants for in vitro initiation and bud proliferation. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of different sucker types of two local plantain cultivars for in vitro establishment, their proliferation performance (bud and shoot number) on Recipient á Immersion Temproraire Automatique (RITA) temporary immersion bioreactor system (TIBS). This research also assessed the relatedness of sucker types at different developmental stages. Explants obtained from three different sucker types (maiden, sword and peeper) of the two local plantain cultivars Apantu (false horn plantain) and Apem (french plantain) were aseptically initiated on a supplemented Murashige and Skoog’s (MS) complete medium while the ex-plant multiplication was done on RITA@ TIBS. Genomic DNA from cigar leaves of the parent plant and suckers derived from the parent plant (maiden, sword and peeper) were also extracted using a modified Cetyl trimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) protocol and analyzed with 15 SSR markers. Analyzed data shows a significant difference (p ≤ 0.01, p ≤ 0.05) in ex-plants contamination, the number of leaves and shoots. Sword sucker had the lowest contamination of 0% among the three explants used for initiation. Suckers arising from a parent were more closely related to suckers of the same age than to their parent plant. These advances are expected to boost the proliferation rates of tissue culture plantain for commercial production.