Culture Media

Abstract

The growth, development and morphogenic response of an explant in culture depends on its genetic make-up, surrounding environment and composition of the culture medium. The last of these is the easiest to manipulate. The success of a plant tissue culture experiment largely depends on the selection of right culture medium. The clue for developing a basic culture medium seems to have initially come from the nutritional requirements of plants growing in soil, and later from nutrient solutions used for whole plant culture. Some of the earliest plant tissue culture media, such as callus culture medium of Gautheret (1939) and root culture medium of White (1943), were based on Knop’s (1865) salt solution and Uspenski and Uspenskaia’s medium (1925) for algae, respectively. A basal plant tissue culture medium consists of inorganic salts of major and minor elements, vitamins and a sugar. It is variously supplemented with growth regulators and/or other nutrients depending on the culture system. The medium is used in liquid form or gelled with agar or any other gelling agent. pH of the medium is generally set at 5.8 before sterilizing it by autoclaving at 1.06 kg cm^-2 for 15 minutes or by filtration. The chapter includes composition of some popular plant tissue culture media and describes the method to prepare them.