Plant Science Research, Vol. 35, 2013

Use of ‘Isubgol’ as a gelling agent for micropropagation of Linum usitatissimum L.

The most frequently used solidifying agent in tissue culture media is agar. It is widely used in tissue culture because of its biological inertness, stability, clarity and non toxic nature. Its high demand has led to its shortage and price rise. During our investigation, an assessment was made to findout if isubgol can be used as an alternative gelling agent in plant tissue culture in order to reduce the cost of expenditure of micropropagation experiments. Four cultivars of linseed (Linum usitatissimum L.) namely ‘Padmini’, ‘Sarada’, ‘OL-98-15-2’ and ‘OL- 09-7-3’ were taken in the experiment. In vitro seed germination, callus proliferation, shoot and root regeneration were assessed on MS medium supplementd with IAA and BAP. The media were solidified either by agar or by isubgol. There was no significant difference in the percentage of seed germination on agar or on isubgol-gelled MS media. Similarly callusing, shoot regeneration and root regeneration were observed from axenically grown hypocotyl explants of all four cultivars of linseed on both agar an isubgol. This investigation suggested that isubgol can be used as a low cost alternative in place of the more expensive gelling agent agar in micropropagation of Linum usitatissimum L.