African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 3 (4), pp. 244-247, April 2004         

Full Length Research Paper

Potential of cassava flour as a gelling agent in media for plant tissue cultures

Moses F. A. Maliro^1,2* and Grace Lameck¹

1Bunda College of Agriculture, University of Malawi, P.O. Box 219, Lilongwe, Malawi. Telephone: 265 1 277 420, Fax: 265 1 277 361

2Joint Centre for Crop Innovation JCCI), Private bag 260, Horsham, Victoria  3401, Australia. Telephone: 61  3 5362 2367 (office) and  61  3 5382 0386 (Home), Fax: 61 3 5362 2388.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: moses.maliro@dpi.vic.gov.au, m.maliro@pgrad.unimelb.edu.au, or mmaliro@hotmail.com.

Accepted 24 March 2004

The potential of a tissue culture medium gelled with cassava flour to support shoot proliferation of stem nodal sections of Uapaca kirkiana and Faidherbia albida was studied. A two factorial experiment was conducted with the first factor as type of gelling agent (80 g/L cassava flour; 80 g/L cassava flour mixed with 3.5 g/L agar; and 7 g/L agar) while the second factor was two plant species. Explants were obtained from 8-months old U. kirkiana and F. albida in vitro raised seedlings. Data included number of shoots and height and analysis of variance was performed. Number of shoots proliferating and shoot height from cultures on medium gelled with cassava flour was the lowest. This was attributed to the degradation of the cassava flour gel after two weeks. Performance of the cassava flour mixed with 3.5 g/L agar gel was better than agar alone. The stability of cassava flour as a gelling agent can therefore be improved by mixing with some agar.

Key words: Gelling agent, cassava flour, agar, shoot proliferation.