In vivo regeneration efficiency of enset (Ensete ventricosum (Welw.) Cheesman) using indigenous shoot induction method developed in Ethiopia

Abstract

Enset (Ensete ventricosum [Welw.] Cheesman) is native to Ethiopia, valued for its versatility and drought tolerance. Farmers have developed a vegetative method for regenerating multiple shoots that produce plantlets derived from wound callus, a process similar to shoot production in in vitro tissue culture. This in vivo regeneration method, however, is a low-cost, tissue culture-free technique that is executed in a field context. The objectives of this study were to investigate the efficiency of in vivo regeneration in different enset landraces using the indigenous method of shoot induction and to compare the capability of wild and domesticated enset landraces to regenerate shoots. Three corm treatments (whole, halved, and quartered) from wild and from three domesticated landraces (Gudiro, Bosso, and Yekko), each of which corm or corm pieces with the apical meristem was removed, were buried in a randomized complete block design with three replicates. The study demonstrated that enset plants can be easily propagated via mechanical cuttings of their corms, giving rise to plantlets deriving from wound callus. This can be done in soil; for example, it is not necessary to use costly in vitro techniques. All domesticated enset landraces showed 100% regeneration frequency in every condition of corm treatment employed and produced an average of 51 to 501 shoots per corm depending on landraces and corm treatments used. In wild enset, 50 to 95% regeneration and an average of 6 to 85 shoots per corm were noted depending on the corm treatments. In general, the regeneration capacity of enset was strongly influenced by the landrace and corm treatment. Splitting the corm has remarkably enhanced shoot induction efficiency in every enset landrace including in wild enset: the more pieces the corm was split into, the more sprouts per corm. Furthermore, this study revealed that domesticated enset has a significantly higher capacity for shoot regeneration compared to wild enset, which could provide some insights into the evolution of this clonal crop. Clonal propagation likely conditioned the pathways of enset evolution under domestication.