Effect of antibiotics in eliminating bacterial wilt (Ralstonia solanacearum) from in vitro propagated ginger

Abstract

Abstract. Markos T, Feyissa T. 2020. Effect of antibiotics in eliminating bacterial wilt (Ralstonia solanacearum) from in vitro propagated ginger. Cell Biol Dev 4: 46-52. Ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) is a herbaceous perennial. It is cultivated commercially in most tropical regions of the world and is a member of the Zingiberaceae family. In conventional ginger cultivation, underground rhizomes are used as planting material. However, it is afflicted by diseases that result in the senescence and degeneration of tissues. Due to Ralstonia solanacearum infection, substantial rhizome losses have been recorded. Therefore, disease-free planting material is required to cultivate ginger successfully. Plant tissue culture technology has been successfully used to commercialize pathogen-free plants and conserves the germplasm of rare and endangered species. In in-vitro, culture techniques offer an alternative method of plant multiplication and a method for crop enhancement. Frequently, ginger multiplication media are contaminated with R. solanacearum, which can survive endophytically in plantlets, rendering them useless for in vitro propagation. Therefore, an experiment was undertaken to determine the efficiency of antibiotics against the in vitro development of R. solanacearum. Four antibiotics, gentamicin, tetracycline, ampicillin, and streptomycin, at four concentrations, 130 mg/L, 160 mg/L, 200 mg/L, and 250 mg/L, were evaluated for their ability to eradicate bacteria from in-vitro propagated ginger. Gentamicin was proven superior to other therapies, with the maximum inhibition (22 mm) at 250 mg/L, followed by tetracycline at 200 mg/L (18 mm), streptomycin at 130 mg/L (13 mm), and ampicillin at 130 mg/L (12 mm). The R. solanacearum can be eradicated from in vitro propagated ginger by applying antibiotics in the micropropagation media.