Nutrient Medium for Plant Tissue Culture

Nutrient Medium for Plant Tissue Culture:

Every tissue and organ has its special requirements for optimal growth and these needs to be worked out when starting work with a new system (Table 9.1). However, most of the media contain inorganic salts of major and minor elements, vitamins and sucrose.

A medium with these ingredients will be referred to as basal medium, sometimes, growth regulators, such as auxins, gibberellins and cytokinins, may also be added to the basal medium. Growth regulators are required for cell division and organ regeneration from the cultures.

The cultures are usually kept in a culture room at about 24°C with some illumination. These all constituents are dissolved in distilled water. If necessary, the medium is solidified with about 0.8% agar. The pH of the medium is adjusted around 5.8 (slightly acidic).

Now equal quantities of the medium are dispersed in culture vials, which are usually glass tubes or flasks. The culture vials, containing medium, are plugged with non-absorbent cotton wrapped in cheese cloth. Such a closure allows the exchange of gases but does not permit the entry of micro-organisms into culture vials.