INFLUENCE OF LIGHT EMITTING DIODE (LED) ON TISSUE CULTURE OF BANANA ‘GRANDE NAINE’ CULTIVAR

The present study evaluated the effects of different light qualities on the growth of banana plantlets in vitro. The plantlets were exposed to 60 μmol m−2 s−1 photosynthetic photon flux (PPF) for a 16 h photoperiod under the following five different light treatments: fluorescent lamps (FL), monochromic blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs) (B), monochromic red LED (R).

The growth rate parameters were measured during the proliferation (shooting and rooting) stages which were; the leaves number, fresh weight, dry weight, chlorophyll, rooting percentage, the root number and root fresh and dry weight. The result treatment T4 [4 hours(h)/red+ 6h/blue+ 6h/fluorescent] was the highest value of shoots and roots fresh and dry weight in the rooting stage (3.32 g, 18 mg, 3.15 g and 12 mg respectively). The chlorophyll content almost with LED treatments is higher than the control (FL). Using red and blue LED light for 4 or 6 hours and reducing the working hours of the fluorescent light is effective for growth characteristics of Banana ‘Grande Naine’ cv micropropagation.