Question

Suggest and describe a technique through which a healthy sugarcane plant can be obtained from virus infected sugarcane plant.

Answer 1

1. Name of technique: Meristem (shoot‑tip) culture often combined with thermotherapy.
2. Procedure:
   • Take actively growing buds from the infected cane, surface-sterilise, and under a stereomicroscope, excise the apical meristem/shoot tip (~0.1 – 0.5 mm) containing a few leaf primordia.
   • Optionally, subject donor plants or excised material to thermotherapy (e.g., elevated-temperature treatment for days to weeks) before excision to reduce viral load.
   • Culture the meristem on sterile MS-based medium with suitable growth regulators to induce shoot regeneration, root the regenerated shoots on rooting medium, then acclimatise the plantlets to the greenhouse/field.
3. The apical meristem is largely free of viruses (viruses do not readily occupy the non‑vascular meristematic zone), and thermotherapy further reduces viral titre; therefore, plants regenerated from meristems are frequently virus‑free and healthy.