Efectos de fitoterapia in vitro en plátano clon dominico en la provincia de El Oro.

Abstract

In the thesis “Effects of in vitro phytotherapy on plantain clone Dominico in the province of El Oro,” two key experiments were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of phytotherapy techniques, specifically electrotherapy and thermotherapy, in the establishment and multiplication of plantain clone Dominico vitroplants. The first experiment focused on determining the effectiveness of phytotherapy in the establishment of Dominico plantain vitroplants. A completely randomized design with four treatments was implemented: a control with no treatment, one with electrotherapy (application of 11 volt electric current), one with thermotherapy (immersion in water at 33°C) and a combined treatment of electrotherapy and thermotherapy. Each treatment was applied to explants obtained from plantain corms, which were previously disinfected and prepared in a modified Murashige and Skoog culture medium. The objective was to evaluate the response of the explants in terms of fungal and bacterial contamination, phenolization, and bud activation. The results showed that the combination of electrotherapy and thermotherapy significantly reduced microbial contamination and improved bud activation, suggesting that this combination is effective for in vitro establishment. The second experiment focused on evaluating the effect of bud activation on the multiplication of vitroplants by applying the same phytotherapy treatments used in the first experiment. The multiplication was carried out in a culture medium enriched with growth hormones such as BAP (6-benzylaminopurine) and AIA (indolacetic acid) to promote shoot proliferation. During the experiment, variables such as number of shoots per explant and average shoot length were measured. The electrotherapy and thermotherapy treatments, both individually and combined, showed a significant increase in multiplication rate and shoot length compared to the control. Especially, the combination of both techniques promoted the development of more and larger shoots, highlighting their efficacy for the multiplication of banana vitroplants. The results of both experiments indicated that the combination of electrotherapy and thermotherapy is an effective technique to improve both the establishment and multiplication of plantain vitroplants clone Dominico. These phytotherapy techniques represent a promising alternative for banana micropropagation, contributing to the production of healthy and high quality plants for agriculture in the El Oro region.