Enset (Ensete ventricosum (Welw.) and Its Biotechnology with Special Focus on Ethiopian Condition

Abstract

Due to the long regeneration time and seed recalcitrance to germination, improvement of enset through conventional plant breeding appears to be impractical. Improvement of traits in important enset clones could be achieved through modern biotechnological technique such as genetic transformation. Hence development of transformation procedures for the improvement of these agronomically desirable traits in enset is essential. The application of molecular markers has enabled studies on reproduction, speciation and spatial-temporal dynamics of populations in many species. DNA-based markers play an important role in estimating diversity, identification of genotypes and tagging genes with desirable traits. Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) is one of the methods to estimate the genetic diversity and relatedness in cultivated enset.

Keywords:  Enset, Biotechnology, Molecular marker, Micopropagation, Genetic transformation