Parent Planting Materials’ Effect On Sucker Multiplication Of Plantain

2017

English

Getting enough planting materials for a year round production has been one of the major problems in plantain production in Ghana. Plantain suckers multiplication is a new technology to solve the problem of low planting materials. The planting-material-type may have effect on the ability of a sucker to give enough plantain plantlets. This research work was carried out to identify the sucker-types effect of two cultivars of plantain on the multiplication technique. The cultivars of plantain used included Apantu (False horn) and Apem (French horn) cultivars. The four main types of suckers used included buds, peepers, sword and maiden suckers in sawdust substrate. The experiment was laid out in 4 x 2 factorial randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. Data were collected on sprouting rate of explants, number of plantlets sprouted; height, girth and fresh weight of harvested plantlets and average number of roots of harvested plantlets. The Apantu genotype recorded 1.08 sprouts per day as compared to the Apem genotype which recorded 0.97 sprouts per day. The sword suckers among the sucker types gave the highest sprout rate of 1.28 and 1.16 sprouts per day. Plantlets harvested from Sword suckers recorded the best physical parameters of 85.9g of fresh weight, 56.4cm of plantlets height, and 1.9cm of stem diameter in three weeks after planting. The results indicated that all the sucker-types could be selected for sucker multiplication technology. However, the number of plantlets a sucker produced with the use of the tissue manipulation technique was largely based on the size and age of the parent suckers. The Apantu genotype produced more vigorous sprouts among the genotypes while the sword suckers gave the best sprouts among the sucker types.

Mensah, E. O.; Dapaah, H.; Dzomeku, B. M.; Amoako, P. O.; Nketia, S. O.