Abstract
Ginger is the most expensive and popular medical and spicy plant in Libya. However, local cultivation has not been documented. The main objective of this study is to optimize the sucrose concentration in the culture medium to achieve a better response of ginger micropropagation. Rhizome sprouting buds of ginger were sterilized and cultured four weeks on semisolid Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with 3 mg/L BAP (6-benzyl- amino-purine). The effect of sucrose concentration was studied by using four different concentrations (30, 60, 90, and 120 g/L) for shoot and root induction. Results showed that sucrose concentration at 30 g/L gave the best results regarding shoot length and number as well as root length. Furthermore, the results demonstrated that root number was not affected by sucrose level in the medium. The percentage reduction of shoot number, shoot length, and root length, respectively, were 12%, 43%, and 29% at 60 g/L sucrose and 53%, 34%, and 10% at 90 g/L sucrose, and 48%, 68%, and 42% at 120 g/L sucrose. Correlation analysis for the relationship of shoot growth parameters and root length illustrated that reverse correlation existed between these parameters and sucrose level. Plantlets were acclimatized before transplanting, and high survival rate (85%) was recorded. The findings of our study significantly add to exiting knowledge regarding the micropropagation of the ginger and may find useful to the large scale production of the ginger plantlets through tissue culture.