Biotechnology Laboratory, Division of Horticulture, ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Umiam-793103, Meghalaya, India.
Present address: 1Department of Horticulture, AAU, Jorhat, Assam.
Sugar in a medium is considered to be an essential cause for high production costs of plantlets in a conventional heterotrophic micropropagation. The heterotrophic mode of nutrition and poor mechanism to control water loss render micropropagated plants vulnerable to transplantation shocks. High sucrose and salt containing media often employed for raising cultures and the poor light conditions seem to restrict the photosynthetic efficiency of the leafy shoots. The growth of plantlets in vitro is often greater under photoautotrophic conditions then heterotrophic conditions, provided that the in vitro environment is properly controlled for promoting photosynthesis.
