African Violet Background
Information:
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| African Violet http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saintpaulia |
The African Violet or Saintpaulia ionantha was first
discovered in Tanzania and Eastern Africa and it wasn’t introduced into the
United States until 1894 (1). Since then, it has become one of the most popular
house plants because of the fact that it survives well in most indoor home
conditions in very little light (2).
Tissue Culture:
General Process:
The process of tissue culture is used
to grow certain tissue separate from the organism that it came from. In the
case of plants, a special media is used based upon what tissue you are planning
to propagate. Depending on the plant, most tissue will be able to be put into
culture, however it should be juvenile tissue that will be able to form callus.
The most important thing when transferring the tissue into culture is
sterilization. All tools and plant parts used should be disinfested and the
work area where the transferring is to be done should be sterile. In most professional
cases a laminar flow hood is used. The hood takes the air from the room and
pushes it through a filter; it then blows the filtered air towards the user to
prevent contaminants from outside of the hood from entering. This decreases the
likelihood of contaminants in the air polluting the culture. The tissue being
used it cut into small pieces and placed on the media. The media contains
compounds that are necessary from plant growth such as “mineral nutrients, organic compounds
such as sucrose and vitamins, and plant growth regulators” (3). Media can be both
liquid (broth) and solid (agar) but both should contain everything the plant
needs to grow. The tissue is then
incubated to grow and form callus in order to create more tissue. This tissue
can be transplanted several times which can leave you with a yield of thousands
of plants that came from one tiny section of a leaf.
African Violet Tissue Culture:
In order to supply the demand for
African Violets, tissue culture is the most used process to propagate the
plant. The media used to grow the tissue in should be prepared ahead of time.
The media mix can be bought from multiple companies and they each have their
own directions that should be followed to prepare and pour container full of
media. One key part of the media is that the pH needs to be adjusted to cater
to what the plant you are propagating requires. In this case, the African
Violets should have media with a pH of about 5.6-5.8 (3).
·
Step
1: Choose plant tissue to propagate.
Keep in mind that you should use juvenile tissue. For the sake of sterilization,
even though roots can be used, they are much harder to sterilize which leaves
more room from contamination.
·
Step
2: Wash the tissue in tap water and soak it in a 10% bleach solution for about
10 minutes which should sterilize the tissue (3).
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| Laminar Flow Hood http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laminar_flow_hood |
·
Step
3: Once the tissue is disinfested it can be taken to a sterile surface such as
a laminar flow hood or a plastic bin that has been sterilized and set on its
side in order to prevent contaminants entering from the air. Another method
that can be used is to work next to an open flame such as a Bunsen burner so
that the flame makes the air rise and keep the contaminants from getting into
the media (3).
·
Step
4: Wash the bleach solution off of the tissue using sterilized water
·
Step
5: Place the tissue on a sterilized surface and using a knife and forceps that
have been sterilized, cut the tissue into pieces about 1.5 cm long. Avoid using
any tissue that looks white or damaged from the bleach solution (3).
·
Step
6: Place the pieces of tissue into the pre-poured containers of media. Space
out the pieces so that they are not smothering each other. Use the forceps to
gently push the tissue to make sure it comes in contact with the media but not
so that it is completely engulfed.
·
Step
7: Seal the container tightly making sure nothing can get in and contaminate
the media.
 |
| Plant Grown in Tissue Culture at Home http://www.hometissueculture.org/ |
·
Step
8: Place the container in an area such as a growth chamber where it can get
approximately 16 hours of light each day and the temperature is around 75
degrees Fahrenheit. The temperature can be colder however the tissue will take
longer to grow in colder temperatures (3).
·
Step
9: Allow 5-6 weeks for growth to form. When the tissue is big enough pieces can
be transplanted into another jar of media which would repeat the process and
create more cloned tissue. Or they can be planted into a sterile potting soil.
The only issue with taking the tissue out of culture is that it needs time to
adjust to the new conditions and therefore should be kept moist and not put
under stress from too much light. (3)
Other Methods of Propagation:
African Violets can be propagated in
other ways, however they are less efficient and will produce less clones or
offspring.
One method of propagation is taking
a leaf cutting. This method is simple; you use a sterile knife to cut off one
or two leaves from the stock plant. The leaves are then dipped into rooting
hormone, planted into moist potting soil and covered with a plastic bag. They
should be placed into a well-lit area. If the bag has condensation on it, it
can be removed until the plant dries, however the soil needs to be kept wet at
all times. In about 3 or 4 weeks the new plants should be rooted and be able to
survive without the plastic bag. This method is very successful however growers
would need a very large supply of stock plant to be able to propagate as many
clones as would be made in tissue culture. (4)
Another method is propagating the
plant by seed, however very few cultivars are able to reproduce this way (1).
Works Cited:
(1) - "African Violets." African Violets. Auburn University, n.d. Web. 17 Mar. 2013 http://www.ag.auburn.edu/hort/landscape/African_Violets.htm
(2) - "African Violet." Yenra. The Violet Barn, 8 Mar. 2002. Web. 17 Mar. 2013 http://www.yenra.com/african-violet/
(3) - "PLANT MICROPROPAGATION USING AFRICAN VIOLET LEAVES." Plant Micropropagation Using African Violet Leaves. Iowa State University, Sept. 1995. Web. 17 Mar. 2013. <http://www.biotech.iastate.edu/lab_protocols/AV_Micropropagation.html>.
(4) - "How to Propagate an African Violet." Houston Chronicle. Houston Chronicle, 2007. Web. 17 Mar. 2013. <http://www.chron.com/life/gardening/article/How-to-propagate-an-African-violet-1549544.php>.
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