Evaluating the Efficacy of Macropropagation Techniques for Red Banana (Musa acuminata) Using Biocontrol Agents

The corm propagation is an simple, alternative and cheap technique for Banana multiplication. The study on the effect of biocontrol agents on macropropagation of Banana cv.Red Banana was carried out at SRM College of Agricultural Sciences, Chengalpattu. The decapitated and decorticated corms were exposed to various treatments with combination of sawdust and cocopeat media supplemented with different biofertilizers and biocontrol agents comprising 13 treatments in 3 replication adopting Completely Randomized Design and the data recorded underwent analysis of variance (ANOVA). Among the 13 treatments adopted, Cocopeat + Sawdust (1:1) + VAM (30 g/corm) + Pochonia chlamydosporia (60g/corm) showed significantly best result in terms of number of days taken for primary bud emergence (22.7 days), days taken for secondary bud emergence (46.34 days), days taken for tertiary bud emergence (67.35 days), number of primary buds per corm (1.53), number of secondary buds per corm (3.67), number of tertiary buds per corm (4.33), total number of plantlets per corm (9.54), plant height (73.56 cm) and pseudostem girth (12.34 cm). The next better performance was observed in the treatment Saw dust + VAM (30 g/corm) + Pochonia chlamydosporia (60 g/corm) which recorded early emergence of buds and production of more buds. The cormpropagation approach refined in this work is accessible, necessitating less skill and knowledge, making it appropriate for implementation by farmers at the farm level.