Tissue Culture studies of Sugarcane

Abstract

Sugarcane assumes the important position in the economy of India by contributing nearly 1.9% of National GDP. Sugarcane is cultivated in over 4 million hectares spreading over a wide range of agro-ecological situations. Sugarcane farmers are facing serious problems such as pest and disease infestation especially red rot, non-availability of good seed material, support from industry etc. It is need for the hour to find out and implement technological interventions for the same. Plant Tissue culture is a tool for obtaining rapid, mass multiplication of disease free, true to type planting material. Mass propagation protocol once standardize, can be utilized for rapid multiplication of disease free stock material, which further be, multiplied in strict management conditions for bulking up. Plant Tissue culture can also be used for rapid dissemination of newly released varieties with important agronomic characters. In the present dissertation, we have tried to optimize the culture conditions of CoJ 85, which is an important variety in Punjab. Through our work, we have found that MS Basal + 0.5 mg/lt BAP + 0.5 mg/lt Kn + 30 gm/lt Sugar + 8.0 gm/lt agar is the best among the different combinations for the initiation of this variety. For the multiplication stage, best multiplication rate is observed in MS Basal + 1.0 mg/lt BAP + 1.5 mg/lt Kn + 30 gm/lt. We have also found that MS + 5 mg/lt NAA + 70 gm/lt sugar responded significantly for the rooting and for callus formation, MS + 2,4-D (4mg/l) was found to be the best for the callus induction.