APPLICATION OF BIOREACTOR CULTURE FOR LARGE SCALE PRODUCTION OF CHRYSANTHEMUM TRANSPLANTS

Chrysanthemum transplants are produced mostly by cutting of in vitro produced plantlets.
In vitro propagation of disease-free chrysanthemum plantlets has been established but it has problems to solve.
Shoot elongation in flask cultures requires 5-6 weeks, which takes time and labor to obtain a certain number of single cuttings.
Multiplication rate is also low due to contamination and degeneration of plantlets during subculture period.
In this regard, bioreactor culture can significantly increase the multiplication rate by enhancing shoot growth and controlling the cultural environment.
In this experiment, we obtained over 5,000 cuttings after 12 weeks of culture in 10 L column type bioreactor.
Cultures propagated in bioreactors maintained at 25^oC, 100 μmol m^-2 s^-1 PPF and 0.1 vvm air volume determined as optimal conditions in these experiments.
Cuttings propagated in bioreactors performed well when transferred to a greenhouse, showing 100% survival with reduction of transplant production period.
The result of our experiments suggests that bioreactor culture provides quality and uniform transplants and can be employed for scale up production of a variety of horticultural transplants.