In vitro growth of Bamboo seedlings and possible natural additives

Bamboo raises typically out of rhizomes which can grow horizontally or more in a clumping manner. The conventional propagation method of bamboo is through seeds or by culms which came from offset cutting of the rhizomes. What makes bamboo very special is the fact that all bamboo plants of the same offspring, flower simultaneously at the exact same time and die together afterwards. (Soderstrom and Calderon)
This can lead to the absence of bamboo in large areas followed by negative effects for animals and humans. Therefore, a huge amount of plants has to be reared (up to 100’000 seedlings) in order to have enough for steady cultures in a plantation. (Venkatachalam et al.)

For the proliferation of bamboo culms in a laboratory environment, additives such as the growth hormone BAP (benzyl amino purine), KIN (kinetin), NAA (1-napthalene acetic acid) and IBA (indole-3 butyric acid) were observed to have a positive effect. Several studies tried to find out in which concentrations the plants grew fastest and had the highest rate of survival after they were planted in the field. (Saini et al.)

The results can be used to establish a stable and reliable in vitro propagation procedure.

Coconut water and sucrose were used as growth supplements and both showed very good results in proliferation of the culms.

Anyhow, higher concentrations of coconut water (8 to 10%), showed an inhibition of growth and vitrification. (Venkatachalam et al.) Vitrification is done in some plant species to survive extreme cold temperatures. High concentrations of sugar in the cytoplasm inhibit the formation of ice crystals which could destroy the cell wall.

Several studies were successful in the implementation of a in vitro propagation procedure and showed a possible alternative to the conventional method. To get the whole process of propagation to a larger scale in a laboratory environment is now most likely the trickiest part.

 Pictures are from the internetsite http://www.bamboobotanicals.ca
Link: http://www.bamboobotanicals.ca/html/about-bamboo/bamboo-growth-habits.html

References

Saini, Himanshu, et al. ‘Micropropagation of Himalayan Weeping Bamboo’. American Journal of Plant Sciences, vol. 07, no. 09, 2016, pp. 1317–24. Crossref, doi:10.4236/ajps.2016.79126.

Soderstrom, Thomas R., and Cleofe E. Calderon. ‘A Commentary on the Bamboos (Poaceae: Bambusoideae)’. Biotropica, vol. 11, no. 3, Sept. 1979, p. 161. Crossref, doi:10.2307/2388036.

Venkatachalam, P., et al. ‘Influence of Plant Growth Regulators (PGRs) and Various Additives on in Vitro Plant Propagation of Bambusa Arundinacea (Retz.) Wild: A Recalcitrant Bamboo Species’. Journal of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, vol. 13, no. 2, Dec. 2015, pp. 193–200. Crossref, doi:10.1016/j.jgeb.2015.09.006.