In vitro conservation and Micropropagation of Breadfruit (Artocarpus Altilis, Moracea)

Breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis, Moraceae) has been used for more than 3,000 years by Pacific islanders as a traditional food crop (Ragone, 1997). Breadfruit is rich in carbohydrates (76.7%) and nutritional energy (Adebowale et al., 2005) and readily consumed at all stages of maturity. The range of traditional uses of breadfruit includes roasted, baked, boiled, dried, pickled, and fermented fruits, as well as processed flour (Ragone, 2003). Prepared breadfruit has a moderate glycaemic index and there are multiple nutritional benefits to including breadfruit as a dietary staple (Ramdath et al., 2004). Breadfruit trees are also a good source of medicine, insecticides, adhesives, timber, and shelter and highly valued as a primary component of traditional agro-forestry systems in Oceania (Morton, 1987; Ragone, 1997; Zerega et al., 2004). Breadfruit varieties exist in two ploidy levels. Triploid accessions (2n = 3x = 84) lack the ability to produce seeds while diploid accessions (2n = 2x = 56) differ in the ability to produce seed (Ragone, 2001; Zerega et al., 2004, 2005, 2006).