Media Preparation

No single medium can support the optimum growth of every kind of plant tissue, so the growth medium's exact composition - together with the plant growth regulators added to it and the physical culture conditions it is incubated under - is what actually determines whether a culture succeeds. The medium most commonly used across plant tissue culture work is MS medium (Murashige and Skoog, 1962), which supplies carbon sources along with a full complement of vitamins and hormones; its exact composition is reproduced in the table alongside this section. Several other formulations exist for cases where MS medium is not ideal, including B5 medium (Gamborg et al., 1968), White's medium (White, 1943) and Nitsch's medium (Nitsch and Nitsch, 1969). Depending on the protocol, a medium may be prepared as a solid, a semisolid, or a liquid; when a solid or semisolid form is needed, a gelling agent is added t …