THAKUR, ManishaANITA2020-09-192020-09-192020-09https://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810151597ABSTRACT Ginger (Zingiber officinale Rosc.) is a perennial herb belonging to the family Zingiberaceae. In the present studies, cost effective micropropagation protocol of ginger cv. Himgiri has been developed by replacing sucrose and agar with low cost alternatives. 40 g/l table sugar and 15 g/l isabgol proved to be the best as a carbon source and gelling agent. Out of different combination tried, isabgol and table sugar showed maximum multiplication rate of 1:8 with average shoot length of 5.1 cm, following medium gelled with isabgol and sucrose which showed 1:7 multiplication rate with 4.4 cm average shoot length. With the increase in number of passages on medium gelled with isabgol (15g/l), rate of shoot multiplication and shoot length increased till 4th subculture. Maximum number of microrhizome per shoot i.e. 5 was produced on MS medium supplemented with 70 g/l table sugar, followed by 4 microrhizome per shoot on MS medium supplemented with 90 g/l table sugar + 0.9 mg/l BAP, after dark treatment. Rooted plantlets were transplanted on different potting mixture for hardening and kept in the glasshouse. Whereas, maximum per cent survival (90.6%) was observed on cocopeat : sand : FYM (1:1:1). Potting mixture drenched with 20 ml Jeevamrit (3%) and 5 ml of PGPR showed survival percentage of 95 and 41, respectively. Cost analysis of various components showed that there was a significant cost difference between control medium and low cost medium. Control medium was found to be the most expensive resulting in per plantlet cost of Rs. 0.46 whereas, on medium containing isabgol + table sugar and isabgol + sucrose it was Rs. 0.06 and 0.12, respectively. Per plant cost after 4 weeks of primary hardening was calculated to be Rs. 0.71 and Rs. 0.77 for plantlets regenerated on LCM5 and LCM2, whereas it was Rs. 1.11 on control, thus proving that isabgol and table sugar can be the best cheaper alternate to the laboratory grade agar and sucrose.EnglishThesis