Evaluation of Growth Rate and Phenotypic Traits of Meristem-cultured Papaya Plants
Journal Title: Journal of Experimental Agriculture International - Year 2016, Vol 14, Issue 4
Abstract
Papaya in vitro-based micropropagation has been attempted for a number of cultivars. This effort has mainly been geared towards production of multiple unisexual planting stocks in large-scale production of papaya. In this study, a comparison was made on growth performance between tissue-culture generated and direct-seeded papaya plants. Key morphological traits ranging from leaf length to days taken to flowering were employed in evaluating the effect of in vitro propagation on papaya compared to conventionally, seeds generated papaya plants. Three papaya lines for each experimental group were selected at 5-leaf stage and transplanted in a greenhouse. These were set in a completely randomized design with three replicates and the plants subjected to the same soil and water treatment. Data on growth characteristics was collected weekly from transplanting to plant flowering. One way ANOVA was used to generate means which were then separated using Student Newman’s Kules test at p≤0.05. The results showed that direct-seeded and the in vitro-generated papaya plants varied slightly in respect to leaf length and width with both falling within the normal range (leaf width; 30 – 60 cm, leaf length; 45 – 90 cm). It was also noted that, the tissue cultured plants had shorter and narrower leaves compared to the seeds generated plants. On average tissue cultured plants took 95 days to flowering compared to 100 days taken by the direct seeded papaya plants. On average, the stem diameter variation (0.6 cm) was not significantly different at 95% confidence interval. In addition, the average internode length of seeds generated papaya was slightly longer than that of the tissue culture generated plants. From the seven criteria used in the comparison, this study did not record a consistent difference between seeds and tissue cultured papaya plants. In conclusion, in vitro regeneration process does not change the genetics of the papaya plant but provides a rapid production of true-to-type planting materials per unit time.
Authors and Affiliations
E. K. Gatambia, Agnes W. Kihurani, Fredah K. Rimberia, Monica M. Waiganjo
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP351299
- DOI 10.9734/JEAI/2016/29760
- Views 78
- Downloads 0
Effects of Foliar Application of Boron (B) on the Grain Set and Yield of Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)
Aims: The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of foliar application of boron (B) on the grain set and yield of wheat (cv. Shatabdi). Study Design: The experiment was designed with six boron treatments, arr...
Effects of Anti-nutritive Constituents of Unprocessed Jack Bean (Canavalia ensiformis) (L) (DC) Seed Meal on Poultry Performance
Jack bean (Canavalia ensiformis) is a good source of plant protein as well as a starch-storing seed and on the basis of the apparent nutrient content, it should be an extremely useful ingredient in animal feeds. The use...
Growth Performance, Carcass Characteristics and Economic Efficiency of Using Graded Levels of Moringa Leaf Meal in Feeding Weaner Pigs
A study was conducted to evaluate the feeding value of Moringa oleifera leaf meal (MOLM) as part of feed ingredient on the growth performance, carcass characteristics, and economic efficiency of weaner pigs. A total of f...
Investigation of Phytochemical Components and Bioautography of Garcinia mangostana L. Methanol Leaf Extract
The aim of this work to identify chemical components of Garcinia mangostana leaves and test the antibacterial effect on Pseudomonas syringe pv. tomato and Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae using bioautographic procedure. Phy...
Maize Production under Climate Change in a Savannah Region in DR-Congo
Climate change is a serious threat to poverty alleviation in developing countries as it can sweep several decades of development efforts. It is one of the constraints to achieving potential crop yields, and it is a facto...