AN EFFICIENT MICROPROPAGATION SYSTEM: 3R BIOREACTOR

A new type of bioreactor called Revert Rotary Reactor (3R) has been constructed in order to try its efficiency in plant micropropagation. Cultures of Hosta, Ananas and banana were used as model plants investigating their multiplication and physiological parameters. Cultures were grown in different systems: on solid media and in bioreactor moduls in liquid media with or without aeration. The best quality plants were obtained from the aerated treatments. The multiplication rates doubled compared to the solid media or the non-aerated liquid. Photosynthetic parameters were about the normal values in all treatments except Hosta cultures where a certain inhibition of growth and hyperhydricity was observed in the liquid without aeration. When monitoring the photosynthetic activity a negative value was found in case of plants cultivated on the solid media what means that they conducted no photosynthesis but breathed intensely. In contrast the photosynthetic activity exceeded respiration in cultures from the liquid media. Anatomical studies of the leaves showed that the stomata are functioning, the epidermis became thick and excretion of epicuticular waxes started in plants from the aerated vessel. All of these plantlets survived following acclimatization.