THE EFFECTS OF BANANA, POTATO, AND COCONUT WATER IN THE REGENERATION OF Ficus carica cv. Japanese BTM 6

Abstract

Fig (Ficus carica L.) belongs to the family of Moraceae and its fruits are known to be nutritious to the human diet. Organic additives function as an alternative to replace conventional carbon sources besides containing other nutritional components required for plant growth. This study aims to evaluate the effects of organic additives incorporated in culture media for the regeneration of Ficus carica cv. Japanese BTM6. In vitro shoots were cultured in MS medium supplemented with 1 mg/L of BAP without sucrose and with different concentrations of organic additives (potato, banana and coconut water). MS medium supplemented with 20 g of sucrose and 1 mg/L of BAP (positive control) showed the highest number of shoots (2.45 ± 0.16), shoot height (4.02 ± 0.18 cm) and number of leaves (8.33 ± 0.44). However, the incorporation of coconut water was observed to also support the induction of shoots, shoot height and leaves. Treatment of 200 mL/L of coconut water was found to significantly improve the number of leaves (5.08 ± 0.81 leaves per explant) in comparison to other organic additives. The study concludes that coconut water can be a feasible alternative as carbon source in the regeneration of Ficus carica cv. Japanese BTM6.