Inside the laminar air chamber, the basal buds were isolated and inoculated on medium containing full strength Murashige and Skoog (MS) inorganic salts (Murashige and Skoog, 1962), 100 mg/l myo-inositol, 0.1 mg/l thiamine-HCl, 3% sucrose, 0.8% agar as gelling agent and devoid of any plant growth regulators (PGRs). The pH of the media was adjusted to 5.8 using 0.1 N HCl, dispensed in 150×25 mm culture tubes (15 ml medium per tube), and autoclaved at 1210C for 15 mins.