Abstract
The aim of this study was to check the use of the following gelling agents: the xanthan gum “Adicel®” and the stabilizer “Super Liga Neutra®” to replace agar in the in vitro rooting phase of Gerbera hybrida cv. Essandre. Additionally, the possibility of using chemical sterilization of both culture media and glassware with sodium hypochlorite to replace autoclaving was analyzed. The gelling agents, xanthan gum “Adicel®” and the stabilizer “Super Liga Neutra®” were tested at the following concentrations (g L-1): 7; 9; 11; 13; 15; 17; 19; and 21. No concentrations of Super Liga Neutra® provided effective solidification. Concentrations of 17 and 21 g of Adicel® provided a good gelling of the culture medium, which was compared to the medium containing agar (control) with two types of sterilization: autoclaving (for 20 and 40 minutes) and chemical sterilization. Autoclaving for 20 minutes did not provide effective elimination of contamination in the culture medium containing xanthan gum; this only occurred when autoclaving time increased to 40 minutes. Plant development in culture media containing 17 and 21 g of xanthan gum, either sterilized by autoclaving for 40 minutes or at a concentration of 17 g xanthan gum using sodium hypochlorite, was statistically the same as the control that contained agar. However, plant development at a concentration of 21g of xanthan gum in a sterilized medium using sodium hypochlorite was lower than that observed in media containing agar.
Highlights
Different concentrations of alternative gelling agents were tested against agar and two sterilization methods were tested
3.1 Gelling agents used in thermal sterilization None of the concentrations of the stabilizer “Super Liga Neutra®” evaluated was effective in culture medium gelling agents
The xanthan gum “Adicel®” was an effective culture medium solidifying agent at concentrations of 17 and 21g L-1, and both were evaluated in the experiments
Summary
Gerbera (Gerbera jamesonii Adlam), a species that belongs to the Asteraceae family, is marketed as a potted plant as well as a cut flower and stands out economically in agribusiness of national and international floriculture. Micropropagated seedlings are more costly than traditional seedlings due to the cost of the reagents and equipment used to produce them. Owing to the economic importance of gerbera and micropropagation in the production of quality seedlings, new alternatives to reduce the costs of in vitro seedling production have been analyzed, aiming to render this propagation method more affordable. Regarding cost reduction in tissue cultures, the replacement of costly reagents such as agar considered one of the most expensive chemical components used in culture media (Phillips & Garda, 2019; Dhawale et al, 2021) has been addressed in several studies (Conceição et al, 2021). Agar is the most frequently gelling component used as it has characteristics that provide good support for explants, e.g., stability, high clarity, its non-toxic nature, and resistance to culture metabolites (Dhawale et al, 2021). When choosing low-cost agents to replace agar, the use of starch from cassava, barley, corn, potato, rice, and wheat or plant-based gums has shown to be effective in medium gelling, which is associated with good plant development (Espinosa-Leal et al, 2018; Naik et al, 2020)
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