The Establishment of Disease-Free Planting Material of Ananas comosus Cv. MD2 (JengkaPine) via Direct Organogenesis Using Sucker Explants

Abstract

JengkaPine is an MD2 pineapple brand exclusive to the Universiti Teknologi
MARA (UiTM) Pahang Branch Jengka Campus. Like other pineapple
varieties, JengkaPine has issues with bacterial and Phytophthora heart and
root rot diseases, resulting in significant yield losses. One option for
completely overcoming this problem is to eliminate the pathogens at the
earliest propagation stage using plant tissue culture technology. This paper
describes a plant tissue culture procedure through direct organogenesis to
obtain disease-free planting materials for JengkaPine using sucker explants.
Direct organogenesis was obtained through the culture of explants on
modified MS media supplemented with 40.0 g/L sucrose and different
concentrations and combinations of plant growth regulators such as BAP,
NAA, myo-inositol, kinetin, and IAA. The organogenesis of MD2
JengkaPine was investigated in three phases: initiation, multiplication, and
rooting. The optimum shoot initiation was observed on MS + 2.0 g/L BAP
and MS + 3.0 mg/L BAP after 12 weeks with a total of 5–6 shoots per
culture, while clonal shoot multiplication was found optimal on MS medium
added with 3.0 mg/L BAP with a total of 12 shoots. MS + 3.0 mg/L IAA was
ideal for rooting MD2 JengkaPine clonal shoots, giving 28 roots after 12
weeks. Improvement in Phytophtora-reduced contamination during surface
sterilization was also investigated by applying 3% hydrogen peroxide.
Plantlets obtained will be acclimatized and subjected to further research
under greenhouse and field planting.