Micropropagation of pineapple (Ananas comosus L. Merr) MD2 variety through axillary bud proliferation

The pineapple (Ananas comosus L. Merr) is an economically important bromeliad plant due to the organoleptic characteristics of its fruit, being the MD2 variety one of the most cultivated. Pineapple culture is limited by its inefficient sucker production. Micropropagation represents a way of producing pineapple plantlets. The aim of this study was to obtain a micropropagation protocol for A. comosus MD2 variety using the axillary bud proliferation technique. Axillary buds from suckers were put into MS media where 17 treatments were tested: benzylaminopurine (BA) in combination with indolebutyric acid (IBA) (0, 0.5, 1 mg/L) or indoleacetic acid (IAA) (0, 0.5, 1 mg/L); as well as BA (2 mg/L) with naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) (5 mg/L); and kinetin (KIN) (2 mg/L). The presence or absence of silver nanoparticles (34 mg/L) was tested as well. The percentage of sprouting, number of shoots, and length were measured. Percentage of sprouting was higher (73.3%) when kinetin and silver were present. Highest shoot number (2.5±0.49) was observed on media containing BA 3 mg/L and AIA 0.5 mg/L. Also, organogenesis was observed on media with BA and ANA. Finally, acclimatization had a 100% success rate.