In Vitro Regeneration in Selected Sugarcane Varieties via Shoot Tips

The conventional method of propagating sugarcane is highly inefficient for the production of sugar on a commercial scale thereby, it is not capable of meeting the local demand for sugar and its by-products which are raw materials for the cottage industries in Nigeria. Using this crude method also exposes the planting materials to disease-causing agents like viral and fungal diseases which are transmitted from one breeding cycle to the next. The tissue culture technology is a novel approach that has proven that healthy, virus-free plantlets that are the exact replica of the donor (parent) plant can be produced within a short period through micropropagation. The regeneration of plantlets from explants like shoot tips when placed on appropriate plant growth media under controlled laboratory conditions guarantees all-year production for commercial sugarcane fields.