Abstract
Taro (Colocasia esculenta L. Schott) is an important crop for food and nutrition security, incomes, and livelihood of people in developing countries. Its cultivation and productivity have been limited mainly due to a lack of quality planting materials. Therefore, this study developed an effective micropropagation method for two common taro varieties in Kenya (Purple Wild and Dasheen) using apical meristem derived from portions of the corm and base of leaf petioles. This study optimized the 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP) and indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) levels for a better shoot and root development. The highest shoot induction was observed in both varieties when Murashige & Skoog (MS) media was supplemented with 2 mg/L of BAP. Similarly, the maximum rooting response was achieved in both varieties on half-strength MS media supplemented with 0.5 mg/L of IBA. The study also revealed significant interactions between variety × BAP levels and variety × IBA levels (P<0.0001) for shoot and root development, respectively. This apical meristem-based micropropagation method developed in this study can be used for rapid multiplication of genetically clean planting materials for commercial uses and to establish taro transformation protocols. Key words: Taro, 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP), indole-3-butyric acid (IBA), shoot induction, root induction, regeneration.
Highlights
The benzyl aminopurine (BAP) concentrations evaluated in this study were significantly different for shoot induction and multiplication in two taro varieties (P
The same concentration was the best performer for shoot multiplication in both genotypes, and two varieties were similar for shoot multiplication
A significant interaction was noted between lower BAP concentration (0.5 mg/l) and varieties e.g., Dasheen had significantly less shoot induction and shoot multiplication than Purple Wild
Summary
Taro (Colocasia esculenta L. Schott) is one of the edible members of the family Araceae distributed across the world, particularly in the tropics (Okonkwo, 1993). It is native to Southeast Asia (Matthews, 1991; Yoshino, 2002) and widely cultivated as a staple food crop in the Pacific Islands, Asia, and Africa (Onwueme, 1999). The global acreage under taro production for 2019 was 1.957 million hectares, with a total production of 10.54 millionAuthor(s) agree that this article remain permanently open access under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 International License294 Afr. J. Biotechnol.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
