Cost effective micropropagation of yam, Dioscorea alata L. using seaweed flakes as alternative gelling agent
2016
Villamor, C.C. | Cardinez, M.T.
Reducing in vitro micropropagation costs using available resources is the major focus of this study, hence the exploitation of seaweeds, Gracilaria and Eucheuma in the form of flakes as alternative gelling agents. The effectiveness of the said seaweed flakes were compared with the tissues culture (TC) grade powdered agar together with the agar bar that is locally produced and commonly available in the market. Results showed that the different gelling agents did not significantly affect the performance of yam cultures in terms of shoot production and development, number and length of nodes and growth value. The estimated cost of gelling agents to solidify a liter culture media indicated that the TC grade powdered agar (P28.80) was about 3x more expensive than the other solidifying agents Gracilaria (P19.59), Eucheuma (P11.20) and commercial agar bar (P10.10). It was also shown that one plantlet produced from TC grade powder agar-gelled media costed P0.73, which was about P0.09-P0.16 more when other gelling agent were used. A rough estimate of about 9,692 to 11,200 plantlets can be produced in a quarter having a multiplication factor of two plantlets every subculture, being done biweekly for three months. Therefore, the commercial agar bar; eucheuma flakes or gracilaria flakes can be used as cheaper substitute for tissue-culture grade powdered agar, hence a more cost effective micropropagation technology for yam.
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