In Vitro Growth Initiation of Pona Yam(Dioscorea rotundata var Pona)

The white guinea yam (Dioscorea rotundata Poir) among the species making up the yams are the most widely cultivated in the world and also the major type grown in Ghana, especially the Pona and Dente cultivars. Pona and Dente cultivars constitute about 80% of the total yam production in the country. Amidst the constraints besetting Pona yam cultivation and conservation, plant tissue culture technology carried out under aseptic conditions has developed well as an alternative to mitigate these challenges in disease elimination, rapid multiplication and also offering slow growth conservation. In this project, the method of micropropagation was used to set cultures of Pona yam using axillary buds, meristem tips and vines as explants. These materials excised from dry directly shooting tubers showed signs of growth on Murashige and Skoog basal medium augmented with varying concentrations of auxins and cytokinins. Certain level of combination of these hormones enhances initiation of growth in cultures: by shooting and rooting. The hormone combination level of Nathalene Acetic acid and 6-Benzylaminopurine were examined for the various explant types of Pona yam.