Sterilisation Protocols and in vitro Shoot and Root Induction of Zingiber officinale var. Rosc. using 6-Benzylaminopurine (BAP) and Naphthalene Acetic Acid (NAA)

Abstract

Bentong ginger is the most well-known variety of Zingiber officinale in Malaysia, owing to its extensive use in traditional medicine and as a culinary spice. It is vegetatively propagated, and large quantities of rhizomes are required as initial planting materials. In addition, a variety of different soil-borne diseases are associated with the vegetative propagation of ginger using its rhizomes; hence, producing them on a massive scale requires a lot of time. Plant tissue culture techniques have utilised many plant species to produce disease-free planting materials. Therefore, the study aimed to determine the effects of ethanol on the surface sterilisation of shoot bud explants as well as the optimisation of 6-Benzylaminopurine (BAP) and Naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) on shoot and root propagation. The shoot bud explant was successfully sterilised using 20% (v/v) of Clorox and Tween20 for 30 minutes and 95% (v/v) of ethanol for 1 minute, resulting in a 58% contamination-free explant. The highest number of shoots and roots were initiated from shoot bud explants of Z. officinale on MS solid medium supplemented with 4.0 mg/l BAP and 1.5 mg/L NAA, respectively. MS medium incorporated with a combination of 3.0 mg/l BAP and 1.5 mg/l NAA produced the highest length of shoot. These results suggested that the protocols used can be adopted for large-scale propagation of disease-free planting materials of Zingiber officinale var Rosc.