Background:
Though area and production of Banana is increasing over the years, there are constraints for the small and marginal farmers in accessing the quality planting materials at an affordable cost. The existing method of micro-propagation using shoot tip explants hardly caters to 8-10% of the total requirement. Inadequate supply and high cost of planting material are the main drivers of this invention and innovation.:
Technology Details:
ICAR-NRC Banana has developed a customized bioreactor (SERV) and standardized the protocol for mass multiplication of Bananas using somatic embryos which includes maturation and germination of somatic embryos. One ml of Embryogenic cell suspension can produce approx. 40000 (cultivar specific) plants within 160 days in the SERV bioreactor. It reduces the usage of glassware, manpower and infrastructures ultimately bringing down the per plant production cost.