Banana is an important food crop and the second most important fruit crop. Despite the significant commercial value of the crop, the main production constrain is the availability of reliable and safe planting material. The planting materials obtained through conventional methods (suckers) do not meet the increasing demand for planting and they are of poor quality. Tissue culture is the approach which can solve these problems. Micro propagation of the crop is also faced with challenges which need to be addressed in order to improve its production. Some of the problems which hinder the success of the crop include oxidative browning of the wounded tissues and low number of shoots produce per explant. This review highlights the challenges encountered in tissue culture of banana and explores the in vitro propagation techniques by using shoot tip cultures of banana as the possibilities to overcome these problems.

Brachylaena huillensis (Asteraceae) is a threatened resourceful timber tree species. B. huillensis regenerates only through seeds. However, the seeds have poor germination rate and are also not obtainable. Developing tissue culture techniques for B. huillensis will permit the application of biotechnology to its propagation and provide alternative method for its regeneration. The current study was conducted to investigate the effect of antioxidant ascorbic acid in controlling lethal browning caused by oxidized phenols in in vitro culture of Brachylaena huillensis using nodal segments. The treatments included four levels of ascorbic acid (0, 50, 100, 150, 200, & 250 mg/litre) supplied into basal woody plant medium supplemented with Benzylaminopurine (BAP). The results of the current study revealed that production of phenolic compounds of explants was significantly controlled by incorporating higher levels of ascorbic acid into the medium. The best control was achieved by supplying 200 -250 mg/litre of ascorbic acid in the woody plant medium supplemented with BAP.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of concentration of different growth regulators (auxins and cytokinins) on growth and development of banana shoot tips cultured in vitro. Explants were taken from young suckers of field grown plants of var. "Yangambi". The shoot tips were cultured on MS media supplemented with different concentrations of BAP (0, 2, 4, 6 and 8 mg/l) with or without IAA at concentration of 0.34 mg/l. At the rooting phase, the media was supplemented with different concentrations of IBA (0.1, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 mg/l) with or without BAP at concentration of 0.2 mg/l. The results indicated that 6.0 mg/l BAP significantly increased the number of shoots formed and the interaction of 6 mg/l BAP with 0.35 mg/l IAA significantly increased the fresh weight. For rooting, 2.0 mg/l IBA was more efficient in number and length of roots produced than all other treatments.

The use of ascorbic acid during explants preparation and the effect of different concentrations of ascorbic acid in controlling lethal browning and survival of the explants in local banana cv. Mzuzu banana were investigated. The explants were taken from young suckers. The shoot tips were cultured on Murashige and Skoog's media supplemented with 5 mg/l of benzylaminopurine (BAP) and different concentrations of ascorbic acid (0, 50, 100 and 200 mg/l). Completely randomized design was used in this study. The results indicate that the use of ascorbic acid as an antioxidant during explants preparation significantly reduced the extent of lethal browning and survival of the explants followed by 100 mg/l of ascorbic acid applied directly into the media.

Aims:The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of bud splitting technique on suppression of apical dominance and induction of multiple buds development in banana shoot tips of cv. Yangambi. Study Design: The experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design, with three treatments each replicated ten times.