CONTROLLED RELEASE FERTILIZERS FOR MICROPROPAGATION OF PLANTS IN TISSUE CULTURE

THE PROPOSED RESEARCH EVALUATES THE BIOLOGICAL RESPONSES OF PLANT TISSUE CULTURES TO IN VITRO APPLICATIONS OF CONTROLLED-RELEASE FERTILIZERS. FOR THE PURPOSES OF PHASE I, A CUSTOM-MADE MICROPRILL, MODIFIED FROM A COMMERCIAL PRODUCT: 'OSMOCOTE 17-6-12, 3-4 MONTH RELEASE' WILLBE USED. THIS IS IDENTICAL TO THE PRODUCT USED IN A PRELIMINARY STUDY CURRENTLY UNDERWAY AT TISSUE-GROWN CORPORATION. FOR PHASE I, SEVERAL SPECIES OF PLANTS REPRESENTING FOLIAGE, FLOWERING ORNAMENTAL AND VEGATABLE COMMODITIES WILL BE EVALUATED IN 6 INTERRELATED EXPERIMENTS TO DETERMINE BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITY OF CONTROLLED-RELEASE FERTILIZERS IN VITRO. FRESH WEIGHT AND MULTIPLICATION RATESWILL BE MONITORED OVER A MINIMUM OF THREE SUBCULTURES FOR EACH VARIETY. LONGER SUBCULTURE INTERVALS, WHICH DECREASE LABOR AND MATERIALS COSTS, WILL BE TARGETED. THREE ADDITIONAL EXPERIMENTS HAVE BEEN DESIGNED TO EVALUATE THE PHYSICAL PARAMETERS WHICH ARE RELEVANT TO THE PROJECT, SUCH AS STERILITY FACTORS, RELEASE PATTERNS IN AGAR VERSUS WATER,DIFFUSION RATE AND AUTOCLAVING EFFECTS. THE PROJECT IS PREMISED ON THE HYPOTHESIS THAT CONTROLLED-RELEASE OF NUTRIENT SALTS CAN BETTER APPROXIMATE THE ACTUAL NEEDS OF THE PLANTLET IN MICROPROPAGATION THAN CAN THE ADDITION OF THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF SALTS FROM THE OUTSET.