Review

Plant response to alternative matrices for in vitro root induction

Gaurab Gangopadhyay, Subhash Kanti Roy and Kalyan K. Mukherjee*

Cytogenetics Laboratory, Department of Botany, Bose Institute, 93/1 APC Road, Kolkata – 700009, West Bengal, India.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: kalyan@bosemain.boseinst.ac.in

Accepted 19 December, 2008

The quest for alternative matrices for plant tissue culture is a continuing process. This inquiry has two aspects. One being commercial for low cost tissue culture, and the other obviously is the better root induction vis-à-vis higher percentage of survival, particularly with respect to micropropagation. The advantage of alternative matrices raises the concomitant question of plant intelligence in sensing its environment. The present review apart from summarizing the works with alternative matrices, attempts to raise some issues related to plant sensitivity, which remain unanswered due to lack of present understanding in this area of plant biology.

Key words: Alternative matrix, plant tissue culture, root induction.