A Double Phase Culture System: An Economic and Time Saving Protocol for In Vitro Propagation of Plant

Low cost and time saving tissue culture techniques by improving process efficiency and better utilization of resources without compromising the quality of the plants are of high priority for commercial utilization. In this report a double phase culture system (DPS) i.e. a semisolid phase with rooting media at the bottom with a layer of shooting media in liquid phase, was standardized and compared with conventional micro propagation system (CMS) by taking Rauwolfia serpentine L. Bent. as a model. In CMS the shoots were raised first followed by two subsequent subculture then they were transferred to rooting media for root induction for which it will take more than 12 weeks but under DPS, plantlets with well developed roots and shoots can be produced simultaneously in a single culture vessel within 08 weeks without shoot manipulations/repeated subculture. It was found that the rate of multiplication (98.7), shoot length (9.8) and shoot thickness (5.2) was higher in DPS in comparison to CMS. The no. of roots/shoot (8.7), root length (5.3cm), root thickness (6.1mm) was found higher in DPS than that of the CMS. Percentage survival of plantlets was 98.5 % in DPS, while it was only 70% in CMS. The culture period was reduced by 44% in DPS compared to the CMS. In DPS nutrient cost/plantlet, energy cost/plantlet and labour cost also reduced by 35.36%, 40.66% and 33.33% respectively in comparison to CMS. Thus DPS has many advantages and can be used for large scale quality production of commercial plants in reduced time, cost and labour, which ultimately reduced the production cost of the farmer