Effect of BAP on shoot proliferation of in vitro cultured pineapple (Ananas comosus)

This study was aimed at improving in vitro shoot proliferation in the Ananas comosus variety ‘Queen’. The effect of six concentrations of Benzyl amino purine (BAP) on shoot proliferation was investigated. Axillary bud explants were initiated on Murashige and Skoog’s (MS) basal medium supplemented with 0.02 mg/l Naphthalene acetic acid ( NAA) in combination with variousconcentrations of BAP (0.0, 0.1. 0.2, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 2.0 and 2.5mg) and solidified with 6.0g/l Bacto agar. The cultures were grown at 27±oC, 16h photoperiod and 3000Lux light intensity. The highest multiplication rate was observed on media containing 1.5mg/l BAP. Shoot numbers increased between 1.5 – 2.5 mg/l BAP