This study attempted to identify low-cost gelling agents in order to replace agar as one of the most expensive ingredients in the culture media. Therefore, experiments with 17 alternative gelling agents were performed on two Africa plantain cultivars, replicated ten times, and repeated three times. Parameters monitored over a period of 8 weeks included the number of shoots, plant height, and the number of leaves as well as the number and length of roots developed. The results showed that culture media with mung bean (Mb) or isubgol (I) could reduce media cost by more than 80, whereas 0.4 agar combined with mung bean (MbA), pearl sago (PSA) or sago (SA) resulted in cost reduction of 43.9, 39.0 and 33.5, respectively. All media were sufficiently firm to adequately support the explants without neither extruding phenolic exudates nor showing toxicity symptoms. In addition, both plantain cultivars grew fast with sufficient shoot sprouting and root proliferation that was comparable to controls on 0.8 agar. The study demonstrated that, mung bean starch could be used as a single substitute for expensive gelling agents such as agar or gelrite in tissue culture. In conclusion, this inexpensive gelling agent might not only be applicable for resource poor farming communities to clonally propagate plantain but also for micropropagation procedures in general.
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