Effect of Azospirillum on In Vitro Regenerated Bananas
Leelamma Sebastian *
Department of Botany, Alphonsa College, Pala, Kerala [L.S]; Research and post Graduate Dept. of Botany, ST. Thomas College Pala, Arunapuram P.O. 686574, Kerala, India.
M. M. Mathew
Department of Botany, Alphonsa College, Pala, Kerala [L.S]; Research and post Graduate Dept. of Botany, ST. Thomas College Pala, Arunapuram P.O. 686574, Kerala, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Considering the current importance attributed to organic products, the present study was designed to evaluate the effect of Azospirillum, NPK fertilizer and their combinations on six categories of plants in bananas namely, nendran and poovan shoot tip and inflorescence apex culture regenerated plants as well as sucker derived nendran and poovan plants. All the six categories of plants were subjected to five treatments. The data were recorded based on growth and yield characteristics. The T2 treatment (containing 30-60g Azospirillum and 12.5-25g NPK) was found to be showing best result in growth and yield. This result tallies with the previous studies done in bitter gourd and snake gourd. The technique gives a methodology for reduced use of chemical fertilizers in combinations with bio fertilizers, which will reduce the side effects of repeated use of high dosage of chemical fertilizers.
Keywords: Azospirillum, Nendran, Poovan, Tissue culture, Sucker grown