Question

In the preparation of culture media for tissue culture, __________ is used as a solidifying agent.

Answer 1

Tissue culture is a technique used in modern plant breeding techniques for the faster vegetative multiplication (micropropagation) of plants. It helps in growing plant cells, tissues or organs (explant) in a sterile culture medium under controlled environmental conditions.

The culture media is prepared by adding appropriate concentrations of below mentioned nutrients:

• Inorganic salts - Helps in providing necessary micro (zinc, manganes, iron, copper, molybdenum, chlorine, boron) and macronutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, pottassium, calcium, sulphur, magnesium) to the growing cells.
• Carbon source - Sucrose, glucose, fructose, etc for energy and growth.
• Amino acids - Act as nitrogen source for building up proteins.
• Vitamins and growth hormones - Auxins, gibberellins and cytokinins are added to induce growth, development and morphological changes in the explant. Vitamins are essential for proper growth.
• Agar agar - It acts as a solidifying agent in the culture media. That means it helps to convert the liquid medium (broth) to a gel form. Hence option b is the answer.