Chapter 7

Micropropagation media

The Japanese scientists T. Murashige and F.K. Skoog developed a medium (MS medium) for plant tissue culture in 1962 which is still the most commonly used today. MS media are categorized according to their sucrose content e.g. MS0 has no sucrose, MS20 is 20 per cent sucrose.

A typical MS medium contains the following macro- and micro-nutrients and minerals dissolved in an agar gel base to which varying amounts of plant growth regulators and a carbon source (sucrose) are added and adjusted to around pH5.8:

Macro-nutrients

Ammonium nitrate 1.65g/l

Calcium chloride 0.332g/l

Magnesium sulphate 0.18 g/l

Potassium nitrate 1.9 g/l

Potassium phosphate 0.17 g/l

Micro-nutrients

Boric acid 6.2 mg/l

Cobalt chloride 0.025 mg/l

Copper sulphate 0.025 mg/l

Iron sulphate 27.8mg/l

Manganese sulphate 16.9mg/l

Molybdic acid 0.25mg/l

Potassium iodide 0.83 mg/l

Zinc sulphate 8.6mg/l

EDTA (a chelating agent) 37.2mg/l

Vitamins and other organic compounds

Nicotinic acid 0.5mg/l

Pyridoxine 0.5mg/l

Thiamine 0.1mg/l

Glycine 2.0mg/l

Edamine 1g/l

Inositol 100mg/l

Plant growth regulators

Auxins e.g.

Indole acetic acid (IAA) 1-30mg/l

ά-naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) 0.1mg

Cytokinins e.g.

Kinetin 0.04-10mg/l

3,6-benzylaminopurine (BAP) 0.1-0.3 mg/l

Agar gel 10g/l

Sucrose 3%

Activated charcoal 1%

For further information see

http://www.intechopen.com/books/recent-advances-in-plant-in-vitro-culture/plant-tissue-culture-media