Banana is a fruit crop which has high demand in Ethiopia, but its production is constrained by lack of disease free planting material with conventional propagation methods. For shoot initiation, shoot tip explants were cultured on MS medium supplemented with 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 mg/L BAP. Similarly, MS medium supplemented with BAP at 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 mg/L in combination with IBA at 0.25 and 0.50 mg/L were used for shoot multiplication. Half- strength MS medium augmented with IBA at 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 and 4.0 mg/l were used for root induction. MS medium without PGRs were used as controls. Finally, hardening of the in vitro derived plantlets was carried out in green house both in the primary and secondary acclimatization stages. Results showed that the highest shoot initiation percent (93.40%), highest mean number of shoots per explant (4.67) and lesser day for shoot induction (11.00) were observed in explant cultured on MS + 1.0 mg/L BAP. With shoot multiplication, highest shooting percent (92.60%), maximum number of shoots (7.67) and highest shoot length (5.27 cm) were recorded on MS + 1.5 mg/L BAP + 0.5 mg/L IBA. The highest rooting percent (93.40%), maximum root number per shoot (7.67) and highest root length (11.00 cm) were found on a half strength MS medium + 2.0 mg/L IBA. The survival rate of plantlets were 96.00% in coco peat substrate in primary acclimatization and 97.92% in forest soil, sand and manure substrates mixed at 3:2:1 ratio in secondary acclimatization. Overall, the result showed that the PGRs type, concentrations and combinations used are effective for mass propagation of banana variety studied in this experiment.

Banana is a fruit crop which has high demand in Ethiopia, but its production is constrained by lack of disease free planting material with conventional propagation methods. For shoot initiation, shoot tip explants were cultured on MS medium supplemented with 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 mg/L BAP. Similarly, MS medium supplemented with BAP at 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 mg/L in combination with IBA at 0.25 and 0.50 mg/L were used for shoot multiplication. Half- strength MS medium augmented with IBA at 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 and 4.0 mg/l were used for root induction. MS medium without PGRs were used as controls. Finally, hardening of the in vitro derived plantlets was carried out in green house both in the primary and secondary acclimatization stages. Results showed that the highest shoot initiation percent (93.40%), highest mean number of shoots per explant (4.67) and lesser day for shoot induction (11.00) were observed in explant cultured on MS + 1.0 mg/L BAP. With shoot multiplication, highest shooting percent (92.60%), maximum number of shoots (7.67) and highest shoot length (5.27 cm) were recorded on MS + 1.5 mg/L BAP + 0.5 mg/L IBA. The highest rooting percent (93.40%), maximum root number per shoot (7.67) and highest root length (11.00 cm) were found on a half strength MS medium + 2.0 mg/L IBA. The survival rate of plantlets were 96.00% in coco peat substrate in primary acclimatization and 97.92% in forest soil, sand and manure substrates mixed at 3:2:1 ratio in secondary acclimatization. Overall, the result showed that the PGRs type, concentrations and combinations used are effective for mass propagation of banana variety studied in this experiment.