- Fri Jan 22, 2010 8:16 pm
#40883
I mean, you CAN do it, but make it as concentrated as possible to prevent contamination; store frozen or refrigerated to further discourage growth.
Also note there are big differences in sugars. For example, domestic sugar is probably close to Grade 1 sucrose for tissue culture. We used to use "normal" TC sugar for bananas, and found that some clones would form all sorts of nasty exudates unless we fed them Grade 1 stuff. We had a whole bucket of Grade 1, so it was no big deal- just pricier if/when we had to re-order.
But there's more to it in that different qualities of sugar produce different growth. One study on low-cost tissue culture efforts for developing countries showed considerable differences in growth based on the type of sugar that was employed in banana tissue culture. IIRC, the best was a Cuban brown sugar. Grade 1 from Sigma scored near the bottom of the list.
Sugar is much more complex than meets the eye. While stuff like ammonium nitrate and boric acid are relatively straightforward, ultimately sugars are derived from organic sources, and there will be natural variation in the product. This is one reason why I prefer to purchase as large a batch as is reasonably possible; once I know I'm getting near the bottom, I buy new stuff, and trial it for at least a couple of months before going whole-hog on the switch.