Effect of Substrates and Draining Time on the Propagation of Seedlings from Stem Fragments (PIF): Case of Musa acuminata (Cavendish)

Abstract

Banana plays a very important role in people's diets. It is a source of income for producers. This study aimed to investigate the effect of substrate and explant drainage time on the mass propagation of banana plantlets. The production technique of seedlings from stem fragments has been adopted. This method consists of trimming, dehulling, and excising the explant before growing it in two types of substrate, sawdust and rice bran, with draining times of 48h, 72h and 96h. The experimental design is a split plot. The experimental unit consisted of 10 explants with three repetitions. The substrate represents the primary treatment, and the draining time is the secondary treatment. A total of 10х3х3х2=180 explants are used. It emerges from this study that the sawdust substrate is best for budding with 52.22±13.94%. Explants drain at 48h also revealed the best aptitude for budding with a rate of 51.66±17.22%. Concerning rooting, the highest rate is recorded in sawdust at 48.88±20.8%. Similarly, explants drain at 72h show a good aptitude for this parameter with 38.3±21.3%. Seedlings resulting from stem fragments make mass-producing high-quality plants possible, which could constitute an important pillar for food security in Cameroon.