Received: 4 th Aug-2014 Revised: 17 th Aug-2014 Accepted: 18 th Aug-2014 Research article THE STANDARDIZATION OF PROTOCOL FOR LARGE SCALE PRODUCTION OF SUGARCANE (CO-86032) THROUGH MICRO PROPAGATION Jai Godheja a* , Sudhir K. Shekhar b , D.R. Modi c a,b Research Scholar, Department of Biotechnology, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow c Associate Professor, Department of Biotechnology, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow *Corresponding author email: jaigodheja@rediffmail.com ABSTRACT: Sugarcane belongs to the grass family (Poaceae), an economically important seed plant family that includes maize, wheat, rice, and sorghum and many forage crops. The main product of sugarcane is sucrose, which accumulates in the stalk internodes. India is the second largest producer of sugar in the world. Sugarcane is an important agro-industrial crop in India, occupying 4.0 million hectare area. The average cane yield in India is about 70.0 tonnes per hectare while the sugar recovery is around 10.0 percent. The present study was carried out to standardize micro-propagation of sugarcane CO-86032 for large scale production of sugarcane planting material. Standardization and optimization of shoot induction and root induction medium were the major objectives of the study. Initiation of explant was found maximum in BAP (1 mg/lit) in MS medium. For shoot proliferation & multiplication SM - II media i.e. MS salts supplemented with 0.3 mg/lit BAP, was found to be the best compared to other media prepared. Though number of multiple shoots were more in SM – III media, but was not appropriate for sub-culturing. Best rooting result obtained in RM – III media i.e. ½ strength MS media supplemented with 3 mg/lit NAA & 3 mg/lit IBA. Maximum survival percentage (97.5 %) was found in SM – II media. From the present study it can be concluded that MS media supplemented with 0.3 mg/lit is best for shoot multiplication and for root induction ½ strength MS media supplemented with 3 mg/lit NAA & 3 mg/lit IBA is best. For commercial production of sugarcane ½ strength MS is found to be more economically viable. Key words: Sugarcane, micro propagation, MS, BAP, NAA, IBA. INTRODUCTION Sugarcane belongs to the grass family (Poaceae), an economically important seed plant family that includes maize, wheat, rice, and sorghum and many forage crops. The main product of sugarcane is sucrose, which accumulates in the stalk internodes. Sucrose, extracted and purified in specialized mill factories, is used as raw material in human food industries or is fermented to produce ethanol. Ethanol is produced on a large scale by the Brazilian sugarcane industry. It is native to the warm temperate to tropical regions of South Asia, and used for sugar production. In 2012, FAO estimates it was cultivated on about 26.0 million hectares, in more than 90 countries, with a worldwide harvest of 1.83 billion tons. Brazil was the largest producer of sugar cane in the world. The next five major producers, in decreasing amounts of production, were India, China, Thailand, Pakistan and Mexico. The world demand for sugar is the primary driver of sugarcane agriculture. Cane accounts for 80% of sugar produced; most of the rest is made from sugar beets. Sugarcane predominantly grows in the tropical and subtropical regions, and sugar beet predominantly grows in colder temperate regions of the world. Other than sugar, products derived from sugarcane include falernum, molasses, rum, cachaça (a traditional spirit from Brazil), bagasse and ethanol. Development of tissue culture method for sugarcane production was initiated almost three decades before in late 1970s using meristem culture (1). Till date several somaclones has been developed through tissue culture with improved productivity and eliminating certain defects like spines, leaf drying, disease susceptibility etc. Somaclones with smut resistance were developed from susceptible clones. Improvement in agronomic characters also have been reported in somaclones and some of the recent 'Co' releases like Co 86032, Co 92007, Co 92029, Co 93005, Co 94003, Co 94012, Co 94003, Co 95016, Co 99011 and Co 99012. International Journal of Plant, Animal and Environmental Sciences Page: xx Available online at www.ijpaes.com