Micropropagation of Different Potato Cultivars in Upscaling Seed Potato Programme in Kenya

Abstract

Scarcity of good quality seed is a major constraint in potato (Solanum tuberosum) production coupled by high expensive gelling agent used in the micro propagation to produce clean pre-basic seed in the country. A study was set out to compare the performance of liquid and solid media in potato micro propagation using 10 potato cultivars. Sections of potato plantlet containing one node were aseptically inoculated at 5 nodes / kilner jar and incubated for four weeks at a light intensity of 3000 lux for 16 hours photoperiod at 20°C. culture media consisted of Murashige and Skoog (MS) media supplemented with different growth regulator combinations of O.Olmg/1 GA3 and 0.001 mg/I kinetin. The procedures were repeated thrice after inoculation to remove shoots from the culture vessels to divide into sections containing several nodes which were inoculated onto fresh medium and repeated every three weeks for three months.