In Vitro Prevention of Browning in Plantain Culture

Problem statement: The in vitro propagation of plantain (Musa paradisiaca) is still faced with lots of challenges such as blackening or browning of tissues prior to culture due to the oxidation of phenolic compound by polyphenolic oxidase enzyme present in the tissue when excised. Approach: Understanding browning processes in plantain and possible ways of minimizing it during excision of explants with particular emphasis on the use of antioxidants was purposed. Tissues were surfaced sterilized with 0.1% (w/v) HgCL₂ for 1-6 min to get a pure culture and then treated for 2 h with different concentrations of 0.1-0.5 mg mL^-1 of potassium citrate and citrate (K-C: C) as an antioxidant to check browning while sterile distilled water was used as control. Results and Conclusion: The result showed that contamination free culture (100%) was achieved in the explants treated with HgCL₂ for 6 min. Also the various concentration of K-C: C prevented browning within 2 h before culturing the tissues inferring that browning in young plantain excised tissue can be greatly reduced by presoaking or pretreatment with antioxidant solution of potassium citrate-citrate before culturing them.