In Vitro Propagation of an Edible Bamboo Bam- busa Bambos and Assessment of Clonal Fidelity through Molecular Markers

 Abstract—An efficient and reproducible protocol has been established through the technique of forced axillary branching for the propagation of an important edible bamboo species namely Bambusa bambos. High frequency multiple shoot induction was achieved from nodal segments collected from elite genotype on Murashige and Skoog’s (MS) medium supplemented with 4.4 µM Benzylaminopurine (BAP) and 1.16 µM Kinetin (Kn). The size of explant and season greatly influenced the frequency of bud break. Rooting posed a major problem to be worked out in this particular species. Best rooting response was observed on 9.80 µM of Indole- 3 Butyric acid (IBA) with 60 ± 14.1 % rooting. In vitro raised plants were successfully acclimatized and established in the field conditions where they exhibited normal growth. In a bid to ascertain genetic fidelity, DNA was extracted by CTAB method and samples were analysed in 1.8% agarose gel electrophoresis. In the present study no variation was reported among the in vitro raised progeny and the mother plant in the banding profiles generated by the total of fifteen Random Amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and Inter Simple Sequence Repeats (ISSR) markers. Hence, molecular analysis confirmed that these plants were genetically similar and can be used as elite plants.