Patents
Micropropagation is an important means for meeting the growing demands of commercial plants and continuous efforts are being made to bring about improvements in terms of bulking up production and lowering costs. In this regard, use of specially designed bioreactor having capacity to handle large volumes of plants and means to finely control the environment, assumes significance. Presently designed bioreactor vessels were made of autoclavable transparent material equipped with means for application of nutrient medium in the form of mist, in addition to simple filling at the bottom. Its design facilitated convenient inoculation of a large number of explants. Additionally, an in line UV disinfection unit was installed which served as a powerful check upon contaminants in the re-circulating nutrient medium. The system also offered advantage of connecting many such bioreactors for enhanced efficiency. A large number of growth parameters were tested and results showed that the plants cultured in bioreactors fared better than the ones raised in other conventional vessels.