Low cost temporary immersion bioreactor for micropropagation of local pineapple (Ananas comosus L.)

Abstract

A laboratory scale temporary immersion bioreactor or also known as TIB has been developed in this study by applying the principle of temporary immersion system due to lacking of TIB development for local pineapple Sarawak cultivar production and higher production cost needed by using semi-solid culture system. The effect of immersion time on shoot production frequency using a modified temporary immersion bioreactor was determined and the shoot induction efficiency of TIB and semi-solid system was also evaluated. The modified TIB was operated by adjusting the time for controlled solenoid valve to allow the transfer of MS liquid medium from medium container to the culture container. Different immersion time was tested by setting up the timer to 3 min/2h and 15 min/2h throughout the three weeks culture period. Results showed that 100% shoot regenerated with maximum number of shoots produced per explant (3 ± 0.58 shoots) when cultured in the TIB with 3 min/2h immersion time. Meanwhile, out of the two culture systems, the shoot regeneration efficiency in TIB managed to produce 3 ± 0.58 shoots within three weeks whereas the semi-solid system required six weeks to produce similar amounts of shoots (6 ± 1.16) which reduced shoot production time by half compared to the semi-solid system. From this study, it is suggested that modified TIB has promoted shoot regeneration frequency thus enhancing pineapple plantlets productivity.