In vitro Propagation

In vitro propagation is a great way for agricultural to produce plants in a short period of time. 

What is In vitro propagation?

In vitro propagation is a vegetative plant propagation technique by utilizing parts of plants such as cells or organs that must be carried out under aseptic or sterile conditions and with a supportive environment. Key words in vitro propagation vegetative, similar characters, part of the plant (material), aseptic or steril. 

The purpose of in vitro propagation is to produce plants with same characteristics, create disease-free plants, propagate rare plants that are difficult to find, and produce many plant seeds in a short time.

There are several widely used in vitro propagation techniques, including:

1) Tissue Culture: Involves the growth and development of plants from explants under sterile conditions in culture media.

2) Micropropagation: The process of developing individual plants from very small planting material (buds or buds) using media.

3) Somatic Embryogenesis: The formation of new plant embryos from somatic (non-reproductive) cells under in vitro conditions. 

4) Organogenesis: Involves the formation of new organs such as roots, stems, or leaves from specific plant explants in media. 

The theoretical basis used in applying tissue culture techniques is that cells from a multicellular organism wherever they are have the same properties. Each cell comes from one cell. Cell totipotency is that each cell has genetic potential like a zygote. Tissue culture is generally carried out to propagate plants vegetatively in a fast time, clean plant material from diseases or viruses, plant breeding and production of secondary metabolites.

Factors that affect the success of tissue culture include, among others, the form of regeneration in tissue culture used, growth regulators, explants (the initial part used in tissue culture must be in good condition), environmental factors (temperature, length of irradiation, humidity, media, environmental sterilization). 

Plants grown through tissue culture techniques are heterotrophs that cannot synthesize carbon needs, therefore it is necessary to add sucrose to the culture medium in order to grow optimally. This is because carbon will be a source of energy for plant growth and support larger molecules in plant growth. 

The obstacles and challenges in performing tissue culture techniques are the risk of contamination of the mother plant with bacteria, fungi or viruses, which contamination will inhibit plant growth and cause failure in production. In addition, the occurrence of genetic variability such as mutations that will affect the nature of the resulting plants. The cost required to perform tissue culture techniques is quite high and is classified as expensive with complicated maintenance. However, if the tissue culture technique is done properly, it will produce good and superior plants. 

References:

Harahap, F., Hasanah, A., Insani, H., Harahap, N. K., Pinem, M. D., Edi, S., ... & Silaban, R. (2019). Pineapple tissue culture. Media Sahabat Cendekia.

Mastuti, R. (2017). Fundamentals of plant tissue culture. Brawijaya University Press.

Oktavia, F. (2021). POTENTIAL UTILIZATION OF TISSUE CULTURE TECHNOLOGY IN THE PREPARATION OF SUPERIOR RUBBER PLANTING MATERIAL. Warta Perkaretan, 40(2), 75-84.

Ruslie, M., Fabian, A., Junghans, E., Julianto, M., Theresia, N., Wijayanto, A., ... & Angelica, B. (2021). THE APPLICATION OF TISSUE CULTURE IN TODAY'S AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRY.

Yuliarti, N. (2010). Household scale plant tissue culture. Andi Publisher.