ESTABLISHMENT OF METHODS OF REDUCING IN VITRO PHENOLIC OXIDATION AND INCREASING MULTIPLICATION RATES IN THE ABB-TYPE BANANA, 'PISANG AWAK'

Bananas are amongst the most important food crops in the world. ‘Pisang Awak’ has traditionally been grown by small scale farmers for local consumption as a dessert fruit; however, it also has potential for value-adding as a juicing banana and can be processed into a high-fibre flour which can be used as a substitute for wheat flour. The availability of planting material of the ABB-type banana ‘Pisang Awak’ is limited due to insufficient supply of good-quality planting material in South Africa and as such a method such as micropropagation which is rapid, has minimum space requirements and allows the production of disease-free elite clones is crucial. However, several challenges around the micropropagation of ABB-type bananas including ‘Pisang Awak’ exist and it is for this reason that the study was carried out. The investi¬gation focussed on attempts to reduce explant browning on initiation and, increasing multiplication rate through the use of various treatments including drying, anti-oxidants, liquid vs. solid culture, manipulation of subculture interval and removal of apical dominance. The results obtained revealed that browning could be significantly reduced using liquid culture media and that the proliferation rates could be increased by removing apical dominance and shoot culture in liquid medium containing 2 mg/L BAP only.