Usage in Agriculture

The Tissue Culture facility of the Ministry is located at the Union Agricultural Station. It is one of four technical units at the Research Division. The main objective of the Tissue Culture Unit is to strengthen the propagation capability of the Ministry of Agriculture and the wider Agricultural Sector through production of disease-free plant material via micro-propagation techniques and germplasm conservation of selected plant species through in vitro techniques. These activities include:

investigative research,

multiplication of plantlets,

support to the Crop Protection Unit (plant quarantine services), Propagation Unit, Cut Flower

and Ornamental Project and the Food Crop Project.

Plants produced by the Tissue Culture Unit include: Anthuriums, ferns, orchids (Dendrobiums, Oncidiums, Phaelanopsis and cattleya), yams, cush-cush, tannia, pineapples and sweet potatoes.

What is Plant Tissue Culture?

Plant tissue culture is the aseptic (free from microorganism) culture of any plant part in vitro. Tissue culture is utilized in the field of Biotechnology. Micro-propagation is the rapid vegetative propagation of plants via tissue culture techniques. Micro-propagation permits the manipulation of physical and chemical conditions in the production of large numbers of high quality plant material within a short period of time.