Effect of Temperature, Photoperiod and pH on In vitro Shoot Multiplication of Sugarcane

The low growth rate of the culture could be due to unfavorable environmental and chemical conditions. Present study was done to see the effect of photoperiod, temperature and pH of the medium on in vitro shoot multiplication. In variety CoSe 01235, the highest number of shoots were produced at 25 ± 1oC similar to the variety UP 0097. Best results were obtained at pH 6.0 in both the varieties. Maximum ~12.7 shoots per culture were recorded in variety UP 0097 under 16 h photoperiod whereas it was minimum ~6.1 under 8 h photoperiod. Similarly variety CoSe 1235 responded well at 16 h photoperiod. This study highlights the need to investigate the effect of environmental conditions when developing efficient micropropogation protocol for commercial purposes.