S04 - Session O1 - Aggregated nanoporous microparticles for slow release of plant growth regulators and their use for in vitro tissue culture

Authors: Saba Taheri *, Bogdan Parakhon, Andre Skirtach, Stefaan Werbrouck

A slow release of plant growth regulators may be of great importance for regulating the induction of adventitious shoot or root meristems in vitro, as this is known to be influenced by gradients. We will present a new concept for achieving a more controllable delivery of plant growth regulators by embedding them in calcium carbonate particles that were aggregated with calcium alginate. We charged the calcium carbonate microparticles (ɸ 4 +- 0.5 µm) with cytokinins, auxins and analogues with protecting properties. They were aggregated with calcium alginate and the obtained milliparticles (ɸ 1 +- 0.2 mm), containing more than 10 million microparticles, were placed near tobacco leaf discs with a semi-solid medium to demonstrate their specific effects on shoot and root regeneration. This study is pioneering the application of slow-release particles in plant growth regulation.