Vegetos
(An International Journal of Plant Research & Biotechnology)
Assessment of low-cost alternative of ammonium nitrate of MS medium for in vitro propagation of plant
*Article not assigned to an issue yet
Sinha Ray Syandan, Mondal Manidipa, Bhattacharjee Sohan, Bhattacharyya Debasis, Chatterjee Gautam, Ali Md. Nasim
Short Communications | Published: 15 December, 2025
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Keywords: Ammonium nitrate, Banana, Micropropagation, MS medium, Nitrogen
Abstract
Ammonium nitrate is an essential salt of MS medium but is banned in the market due to its use in illegal and terrorist activities. In the absence of ammonium nitrate, commercially available plant tissue culture medium is the only option for conducting the plant tissue culture based experiments. However, the availability of the commercial medium is not a proper solution to optimize the micropropagation protocol for all types of plants. Therefore, replacement of the ammonium nitrate with a suitable, low-cost chemical is the need of the hour. In this background, we prepared ammonium nitrate less Experimental MS medium using 1.101 g/l ammonium chloride and 1.75 g/l sodium nitrate and tested for the in vitro propagation of banana (Grand Naine cultivar). No significant differences were found between the MS medium and Experimental MS (EMS) medium on survival rate and response percentage during the culture initiation phase of banana. In vitro rooting of banana was found under the treatment of EMS medium. In addition to banana, this medium also induced in vitro shoot of Aloe vera. Therefore, these salt combinations may be used as a potent substitute for ammonium nitrate in MS medium.
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Author Information
The Agricultural Biotechnology Division, School of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Educational and Research Institute-Narendrapur Campus, Kolkata, India