Biosaintifika 13 (3) (2021): 284-289 p-ISSN 2085-191X | e-ISSN 2338-7610 Journal of Biology & Biology Education https://journal.unnes.ac.id/nju/index.php/biosaintifika 284 Effects of BAP and Lighting Duration on Banana (Musa paradisiaca cv. Raja Bulu) Micropropagation Benyamin Yosafat Manurung 1 , Prita Sari Dewi 1,2* , Murni Dwiati 3 1 Master Program of Agricultural Biotechnology, Postgraduate Program, Universitas Jenderal Soedirman, Indonesia 2 Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Jenderal Soedirman, Indonesia 3 Faculty of Biology, Universitas Jenderal Soedirman, Indonesia *Corresponding E-mail: prita.dewi@unsoed.ac.id Submitted: 2020-07-01. Revised: 2021-09-24. Accepted: 2021-11-10 Abstract. This study aims to determine the best concentration of 6-Benzilaminopurine (BAP) and lighting duration for Raja Bulu banana cultivar micropropagation. The explant was taken from Pagubugan Village, Cilacap Regency, Central Java. The experiment was arranged as a Randomized Completely Block Design (RCBD) with two factors. The first factor was BAP, with concentration used were 0; 2.5; 5; 7.5 mg/L and the addition of Indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) 0.5 mg/L for all treatment. The second factor was lighting treatment. All explants were put in dark incubation for two weeks followed by light duration treatment: 12 hours of light/day and 16 hours of light/day for the next two weeks. The addition of BAP increased the number of shoots, but did not affect time for shoot initiation, shoot height, number of leaves and number of roots. The best BAP concentration was 2.5 mg/L with an average number of 3.2 shoots/explant. Scalps were formed in the treatment of BAP 5 mg/L and 7 mg/L after four weeks of incubation and has the potential to become new shoots. Nevertheless, the lighting duration did not affect all observed variables. Key words: BAP, light duration, Raja Bulu, scalp, shoot How to Cite: Manurung, B. Y., Dewi, P. S., & Dwiati, M. (2021). Effects of BAP and Lighting Duration on Banana (Musa paradisiaca cv. Raja Bulu) Micropropagation. Biosaintifika: Journal of Biology & Biology Education, 13(3), 284-289. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15294/biosaintifika.v13i3.25173 INTRODUCTION Banana is one of the most important fruits in the world because they have many health benefits and can supply human nutritional needs (Falcomer et al., 2019). Banana is the most widely cultivated tropical fruit plants. Global banana demand continues to increase throughout the year, this can be seen an increase in global banana production. Based on FAO data, global banana production reached 115.7 million tons in 2018. Lim (2012) reported that Indonesia has an indigenous banana cultivar, Raja Bulu. It has 6-9 hands and 14-17 fruits per hand. Various Raja Bulu banana cultivars are found in Indonesia, such as Raja Bulu Kuning released by the Ministry of Agriculture Indonesia with Decree Number 388/Kpts/SR.120 /1/2009 which has 5-7 hands and 13-17 fruits per hand. However, both cultivars are different when compared to the local Raja Bulu banana cultivar from the Pagubugan Village Cilacap Regency Central Java, which has 7-10 hands and 20-22 fruits per hand. This banana is usually used at the wedding ceremony in Javanese culture. The fruit can be consumed directly or processed, while other parts can be used as traditional medicine, animal feed and organic fertilizer (Kumar et al., 2012; Suseno, 2017). Raja Bulu cultivar is very susceptible to Panama (Fusarium oxysporum) and Cordana leaf spot (Cordana musae) disease. These diseases can inhibit banana growth and reduce banana production and quality (Sari et al. 2018; Soesanto, Mugiastuti, and Ahmad 2013). Banana is usually propagated conventionally by division of suckers arising from the main stem or the underground corm. In addition, conventional propagation has low growth capacity, few shoots and time to obtain shoots is relatively long. Moreover, disease transmission from the mother plant to the new suckers are also the problems of this conventional propagation. Banana plant propagation trough tissue culture offers clonal propagation with pathogen free, faster time and larger quantities. Plant growth regulators (PGR) are usually added to growing media to speed up the multiplication of shoots and roots. The most appropriate PGR used for banana multiplication are from cytokinin and auxin group. BAP and IAA are the most effective combination of cytokinin and auxin for banana in vitro propagation. Deo & Pradhan (2017) reported the use of 4 mg/L BAP on M. paradisiaca multiplication becomes more effective when combined with 0.5 mg/L IAA which produced seven shoots. Srivastava et al. (2012) and Suseno (2017) found that BAP 6 mg/L was the best treatment with an average of 6.83 and 8.2 shoots per explant, respectively. External factors such as light duration also have important effects on in vitro propagation of banana plants. Abdel-Aal et al. (2016) reported that in vitro banana incubation with a