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rohsen · 11-10-2008, 06:53 PM

Scot, indeed the initial cost will be higher than when using babyjars plastic jars or other disposables, however the results are amazing, and after the initial layout the returns wil justify the expense, in some species the multiplication rates will improve by 500% !!! for commercial labs these numbers are .... well you can imagine. added to this are less handling, no use of agar, and especialy in temporary immersion systems you get partially aclimatized and sturdier plants, every time you immerse the plants in liquid media you also renew the air in the culture vessel wich has considerable benefits. I distribute a TIS system in europ and south america wich includes an airpump culture vessels, the works. for 40 1 liter vessels including pump airfilters and all you need. would set you back at least 2500 euros, you would than be able to produce 10s of thousands of plants. so this is for pros, however it is possible to build a set yourself using lowcost options.
attached a paper listing lowcostoptions for developing countrys. and since a home TC lab, and indeed many commercial labs, needs to watch spending it will have some interesting options.

basicly if you can micropropagate conventionally...you can use bioreactors. you would first propagate the old way, and then seed your bioreactor with the product after you established your cultures in agar. see it as the next step towards lots and lots of plants

hope you enjoy the papers,

regards

Dave (who has no university education whatsoever started out as a hobyist)

ps. in this publication you will find in the chapter BIOREACTORS AS A LOW COST OPTION FOR TISSUE CULTURE a discription on how to build a very cheap aparatus that wil absolutly do the trick. ofcourse if anyone cares to try i will happily assist!!