germplasm selected from the East-Coast region of South India. Nodal shoot segments were used as explants. The explants were dressed and surface sterilized with 0.1% (w/v) HgCl2. Multiple shoots were induced (6.13 ±0.22 shoots per explant) by proliferation of nodal shoot meristems on Murashige and Skoog (MS) semi-solid medium + 2.0 mg l
1 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP)