Somatic embryogenesis in plantain cultivar 'FHIA - 25' (AAB) from meristem tips

Abstract

Plantain cultivar 'FHIA – 25' (AAB) shows high yielding qualities and high resistance to Black Sigatoka disease, but its sugar content in the fruit is low, so a regeneration method at cell level is necessary, such as somatic embryogenesis supported by biotechnological tools to improve fruit quality. This work was performed with the aim of establishing a plant regeneration method via somatic embryogenesis using initial explants of shoot apices from axillary buds in liquid culture medium. Homogenous embryogenic cell suspensions were obtained from mentioned explants. The highest cellular multiplication rates were achieved at 3,0% density. The incubation of somatic embryos during 30 days in the maturation culture medium permitted to increase germination. During the acclimatization stage, plants regenerated from somatic embryos, as well as plants from organogenesis, showed a high survival percentage (98 and 97 respectively), without somaclonal variation.

Keywords

• embrión somático
• plátano
• suspensiones celulares embriogénicas