Modified basal culture medium improves proliferation of Dendrobium Sabin Blue’s protocorm-like bodies (PLBs)

This study was carried out to reformulate half-strength Murashige and Skoog (MS) basal medium, one of the standard media for orchid tissue culture for protocorm-like bodies (PLB) culture of Dendrobium Sabin Blue. Initial PLB fresh mass of 0.5 g was inoculated in various culture treatments for six weeks of culture period. Alteration of half MS medium yielded a modified medium without Fe-EDTA and containing half-strength macronutrients, double-strength micronutrients, full-strength vitamins and 30 g/L sucrose. The modified medium enhanced the proliferation of PLBs by 23% (0.299 ± 0.017 g) as compared half MS medium (0.243 ± 0.012 g) on a dry mass basis. PLB suspension culture was established using liquid medium of the revised formula for a period of 7 weeks. Supplementing the modified medium with quarter-strength of Fe-EDTA is beneficial for long-term culture of PLBs. Improvement of PLB biomass through the use of modified culture medium devoid of plant growth regulators reduces production cost for micropropagation and secondary metabolite production. Besides, it can reduce the likelihood of somaclonal variations related to the use of plant growth regulators in the culture medium.