Effect of repeated subculturing on somaclonal variation in banana (Musa aab group) cv. Nendran

Abstract

Continuous subculturing of regenerated shoot initials of banana cv. Nendran was carried out at two-week interval to assess the variation induced due to repeated subculturing. It was found that the number of shoots produced per culture varied in different subcultures. Chromosome counts made at the root tips of Ihe plaatlets from ten subcultures indicated that all the plants were triploids (2n = 33). However, the plantlets from the different subcultures varied significantly with respect to the rate of growth in height and leaf area.