Geometryka
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I have a book on photoautotrophic micropropagation.
I've never tried micropropagation before but it interests me.
The book is long and technical and outlines using a sugar-free medium for micropropagation is place of the normal sugar-loaded media used.
Just wondering if anyone here has tried this before?
Below is an excerpt from the intro to the book.
Photoautotrophic micropropagation is a pathogen-free micropropagation method
using sugar-free medium, in which the growth of cultures or accumulation of
carbohydrates in cultures is dependent upon the photosynthesis and inorganic
nutrient uptake of cultures. Thus, it can also be called photosynthetic, inorganic or
sugar-free medium micropropagation (Kozai, 1991; Aitken-Christie et al., 1995).
With this method, we could shorten the culture period by about 30%, solve the
physiological disorders such as stomatal malfunction and hyperhydration, improve
percent survival up to nearly 100%, save the labor cost by over 30% by using large
culture vessels.
The concept of photoautotrophic micropropagation is derived from recent
research that revealed relatively high photosynthetic ability of chlorophyllous
cultures such as leafy explants, somatic embryos of cotyledonary stage and plantlets
in vitro. Recent research has also revealed that the growth of such cultures and
percent survival of plantlets ex vitro are considerably improved by increasing
ventilation rate of the culture vessel, exhibiting the importance of gaseous (CO2,
H2O, C2H4, etc.) composition of air in the culture vessel (Aitken-Christie et al.,
1995). The chlorophyllous cultures can grow vigorously without sugar in the culture
medium by improving the in vitro environment to promote photosynthesis,
transpiration and inorganic nutrient uptake of the cultures. Commercialization of
photoautotrophic micropropagation has recently been expanding especially in China
since 1998 and partly in Vietnam and Thailand, but there is little interest in
photoautotrophic micropropagation in European and American countries so far.
In this book, aspects of physical environments in vitro and their effects on plant
growth and development are discussed with respect to the general characteristics of
the in vitro environment, responses of plants to the in vitro environment, general
responses of plants to the ex vitro environment, reason for the difficulty of the ex
vitro acclimatization, environment control for the ex vitro acclimatization, in vitro
acclimatization, and scaling-up of the photoautotrophic micropropagation system
using a large culture vessel with forced ventilation.
Now, in general, the concept of ‘closed production systems’ is to develop a
production system of any product with minimum use of resources and with
minimum environmental pollution. By applying this general concept of closed
production systems and by combining it with the concept of photoautotrophic
micropropagation system into a multi-purpose transplant production system, we
developed a ‘closed transplant production system’ with artificial lighting for
seedlings and cutting propagation for producing billions of high quality transplants
with minimum use of resources and with minimum environmental pollution.
Research and development of the closed transplant production systems has been
creating a new field of bioengineering and bioindustry.
A ‘closed plant production system’ or simply a ‘closed system’ has been
commercialized for production of transplants in Japan since 2002, mainly based
upon our research. The closed system is defined as a warehouse-like structure
covered with opaque thermal insulators, in which ventilation is kept at a minimum,
and artificial light is used as the sole light source for plant growth (Kozai, 1998;
Kozai et al., 1998, 2004).
Advantages of the closed system over a greenhouse for producing high quality
plants include: 1) rapid and efficient growth of plants mainly resulting from a
considerably higher light utilization efficiency (2-3 times) of plants due to optimized
growth conditions, 2) the significantly higher quality plants produced under
uniformly controlled environments in the protected area, free from pest
insects/pathogens and the disturbance of outside weather, 3) the higher (about 10
times) productivity per floor area per year, mainly due to the use of multi-layered
shelves (e.g., 4-5 shelves) with the ratio of planting area to floor area of 1.2-1.5, a
high planting density per tray area (1,500 plants/m2), a high percentage of salable
plants (>95%), 10-20% higher sales price due to their higher quality and uniformity
of plants, and 30-50% shorter production period, 4) the drastically higher utilization
efficiencies of water, CO2, (about 15 times for water and 10 times for CO2) and
fertilizers mainly due to the minimized ventilation and recycling use of
dehumidified water by air conditioners, resulting in little waste water to the outside,
5) virtually no requirement of heating cost even in the winter because of its
thermally insulated structure 6) the lower labor cost (50% or less) due to the smaller
floor area, the worker-friendly shelves, comfortable working environments, and 7)
the easier control of plant developments such as stem elongation, flower bud
initiation, bolting and root formation.
High electricity cost and initial investment are often mentioned as disadvantages
of the closed system. However, the electricity cost for lighting and cooling per plant
was found to be lower than 5% of total production cost in case of transplant
production of leafy and fruit vegetables. And, since only about 10% of greenhouse
floor area is required to produce the same amount of transplants, initial cost per
annual transplant production in closed systems is lower than that in greenhouses. By
using a closed system with a floor area of 150 m2 with 60 shelves having 960 plug
trays in total, about 10 million transplants can be produced annually. The closed
system can also be applied for production of medicinal and ornamental plants and
leafy vegetables, if their height is lower than about 30 cm.
This book describes rationales of photoautotrophic micropropagation and closed
plant production systems and their commercial applications with related basic
scientific explanations from aspects of environmental physics, physiology and
engineering
I've never tried micropropagation before but it interests me.
The book is long and technical and outlines using a sugar-free medium for micropropagation is place of the normal sugar-loaded media used.
Just wondering if anyone here has tried this before?
Below is an excerpt from the intro to the book.
Photoautotrophic micropropagation is a pathogen-free micropropagation method
using sugar-free medium, in which the growth of cultures or accumulation of
carbohydrates in cultures is dependent upon the photosynthesis and inorganic
nutrient uptake of cultures. Thus, it can also be called photosynthetic, inorganic or
sugar-free medium micropropagation (Kozai, 1991; Aitken-Christie et al., 1995).
With this method, we could shorten the culture period by about 30%, solve the
physiological disorders such as stomatal malfunction and hyperhydration, improve
percent survival up to nearly 100%, save the labor cost by over 30% by using large
culture vessels.
The concept of photoautotrophic micropropagation is derived from recent
research that revealed relatively high photosynthetic ability of chlorophyllous
cultures such as leafy explants, somatic embryos of cotyledonary stage and plantlets
in vitro. Recent research has also revealed that the growth of such cultures and
percent survival of plantlets ex vitro are considerably improved by increasing
ventilation rate of the culture vessel, exhibiting the importance of gaseous (CO2,
H2O, C2H4, etc.) composition of air in the culture vessel (Aitken-Christie et al.,
1995). The chlorophyllous cultures can grow vigorously without sugar in the culture
medium by improving the in vitro environment to promote photosynthesis,
transpiration and inorganic nutrient uptake of the cultures. Commercialization of
photoautotrophic micropropagation has recently been expanding especially in China
since 1998 and partly in Vietnam and Thailand, but there is little interest in
photoautotrophic micropropagation in European and American countries so far.
In this book, aspects of physical environments in vitro and their effects on plant
growth and development are discussed with respect to the general characteristics of
the in vitro environment, responses of plants to the in vitro environment, general
responses of plants to the ex vitro environment, reason for the difficulty of the ex
vitro acclimatization, environment control for the ex vitro acclimatization, in vitro
acclimatization, and scaling-up of the photoautotrophic micropropagation system
using a large culture vessel with forced ventilation.
Now, in general, the concept of ‘closed production systems’ is to develop a
production system of any product with minimum use of resources and with
minimum environmental pollution. By applying this general concept of closed
production systems and by combining it with the concept of photoautotrophic
micropropagation system into a multi-purpose transplant production system, we
developed a ‘closed transplant production system’ with artificial lighting for
seedlings and cutting propagation for producing billions of high quality transplants
with minimum use of resources and with minimum environmental pollution.
Research and development of the closed transplant production systems has been
creating a new field of bioengineering and bioindustry.
A ‘closed plant production system’ or simply a ‘closed system’ has been
commercialized for production of transplants in Japan since 2002, mainly based
upon our research. The closed system is defined as a warehouse-like structure
covered with opaque thermal insulators, in which ventilation is kept at a minimum,
and artificial light is used as the sole light source for plant growth (Kozai, 1998;
Kozai et al., 1998, 2004).
Advantages of the closed system over a greenhouse for producing high quality
plants include: 1) rapid and efficient growth of plants mainly resulting from a
considerably higher light utilization efficiency (2-3 times) of plants due to optimized
growth conditions, 2) the significantly higher quality plants produced under
uniformly controlled environments in the protected area, free from pest
insects/pathogens and the disturbance of outside weather, 3) the higher (about 10
times) productivity per floor area per year, mainly due to the use of multi-layered
shelves (e.g., 4-5 shelves) with the ratio of planting area to floor area of 1.2-1.5, a
high planting density per tray area (1,500 plants/m2), a high percentage of salable
plants (>95%), 10-20% higher sales price due to their higher quality and uniformity
of plants, and 30-50% shorter production period, 4) the drastically higher utilization
efficiencies of water, CO2, (about 15 times for water and 10 times for CO2) and
fertilizers mainly due to the minimized ventilation and recycling use of
dehumidified water by air conditioners, resulting in little waste water to the outside,
5) virtually no requirement of heating cost even in the winter because of its
thermally insulated structure 6) the lower labor cost (50% or less) due to the smaller
floor area, the worker-friendly shelves, comfortable working environments, and 7)
the easier control of plant developments such as stem elongation, flower bud
initiation, bolting and root formation.
High electricity cost and initial investment are often mentioned as disadvantages
of the closed system. However, the electricity cost for lighting and cooling per plant
was found to be lower than 5% of total production cost in case of transplant
production of leafy and fruit vegetables. And, since only about 10% of greenhouse
floor area is required to produce the same amount of transplants, initial cost per
annual transplant production in closed systems is lower than that in greenhouses. By
using a closed system with a floor area of 150 m2 with 60 shelves having 960 plug
trays in total, about 10 million transplants can be produced annually. The closed
system can also be applied for production of medicinal and ornamental plants and
leafy vegetables, if their height is lower than about 30 cm.
This book describes rationales of photoautotrophic micropropagation and closed
plant production systems and their commercial applications with related basic
scientific explanations from aspects of environmental physics, physiology and
engineering
