Abstract:
Attempts were made to develop cost-effective methods and devices for home scale adoption of plant tissue culture in the plant tissue culture laboratory of the Department of Horticulture, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, during 1993-95. The test plant selected for the study was Anthurium andreanum Lind. (Pink). Segments of leaf were used as explant for cullus initiation. The callus so obtained was used for further regeneration studies. Various low cost equipment were fabricated and tested for their efficiency in comparison to the conventional expensive method. One-fourth strength of the major nutrients of MS medium along with full strength of micro nutrients was found good for the induction of multiple shoots. All the growth parameters were found adversely affected by the use of LR grade chemicals, when compared to AR grade chemicals. Confectionary grade sugar was found to be equally good to AR grade sucrose, while commercial grade crystal sugar was not. Rain water could be used as a substitute to double glass distilled water in the culture medium. Attempts to substitute agar-agar with less expensive playing marbles, as support matrix of the culture medium was also successful. Ordinary (gold-smith type) balance could be used to replace the expensive electronic balance in weighing chemicals for media preparation. The pH indicator paper could be effectively used instead of the pH meter, in adjusting pH of the medium. Ordinary colourless glass bottles and jam jars could be economically used, instead of expensive borosilicate glassware. The domestic pressure cooker was equally efficient as the electric autoclave in sterilising culture medium and containers. The expensive refrigerator could be effectively replaced with ice-packed thermocol boxes. Instead of the laminar airflow cabinet, the fabricated transfer hood could be effectively used. Attempts to substitute artificial flourescent light with natural light were successful. Rooted plantlets when planted out exhibited 30 per cent loss during various stages of hardening. The cost of producing a single anthurium plantlet was Rs. 5.16 in the conventional method, whereas in the cost-effective method it could be brought down to Rs. 1.82.
