Research Article Details

Abstract

Malbhog banana (Musa paradisiaca, AAB group) is a regionally important dessert cultivar valued for its aroma, taste, keeping quality and market preference in North-Eastern India. However, conventional propagation through suckers is constrained by low multiplication rate, seasonal dependence, uneven planting material, and transmission of pests and pathogens. The present study examines the economic and biological significance of low-cost mass micropropagation of Malbhog banana by integrating secondary evidence on banana tissue culture, cost-reduction approaches, field performance and biochemical quality parameters. The study uses published literature as the principal source and develops an analytical dataset to compare conventional micropropagation, low-cost micropropagation and sucker-based propagation. Cost analysis indicates that replacement of high-cost laboratory inputs with locally available alternatives, combined with process efficiency, can reduce plantlet production cost by about 28–32%. The model-based field comparison suggests that tissue-cultured Malbhog plants show higher survival, more uniform growth, earlier field establishment and higher yield than conventional suckers. A statistical comparison of yield between tissue-cultured plants and sucker-derived plants shows a significant difference, with tissue-cultured plants recording a mean yield of 25.53 t/ha compared with 22.72 t/ha in sucker-derived plants. Biochemical parameters such as total soluble solids, reducing sugars, total sugars, acidity and ascorbic acid show minor variation, suggesting that micropropagation improves planting-material quality without materially disturbing fruit quality.

Keywords: Malbhog banana, micropropagation, low-cost tissue culture, field performance, biochemical assay, cost analysis, banana economics.