A method to rescue the polluted explant in banana (Musa spp) tissue culture

Abstract

Plant tissue culture is an important commercial tool in banana production. Sterilization is the first key step in plant tissue culture. When explants were found infected, they were always discarded. But if the materials were precious and rare, once they were cast away, it will be very difficult to get them again. No paper has been found to resolve this problem. In this paper, two precious banana plantlets were polluted during the process of tissue culture. The leaves and the stem were cut from the polluted seedlings. Only the pseudostem was left. The black and brown part of the pseudostem were also cut and discarded. The modified pseudostem was soaked in 6% NaClO solution 10 minutes first, and then, it was kept in 70% ethanol for 1.5 minutes. After that, the pseudostem was cultured on MS basal medium supplemented with sucrose, 7 g L‐1 agar and 3 mg/L 6‐Benzylaminopurine (6‐BA). Most of the explants grow healthily during the following time.