• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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Ogunsola’s take on tissue culture for mass food production

Processors race to 90% food fortification to improve nutrition in Nigeria

As Nigeria, nay the world still grapples with food security-producing enough food items and making such accessible and available to the consumers-to meet their socio-economic wellbeing and nutritional needs, ingenious and innovative ways are being discovered on annual basis. One of such is the tissue culture method for mass production of sundry food items.

A chance encounter with Dr. Kayode Ogunsola, who unveiled the nitty-gritty of tissue culture at a science/technology exhibition amongst some tertiary institutions in the country but hosted by the Bells University of Technology, Ota, Ogun State, a year ago took my avid interest. What is evident is the huge gap which currently exists between several ground-breaking innovations and inventions and the dismal quality of life of those that should ordinarily benefit from them. This is a worrisome development which one has been drawing the attention of the policy makers to, through opinion essays but without appreciable positive response from the government. Incidentally, the Minister of Science and technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu made a similar observation during a recent technology fair in Lagos.

To move forward, with regards to utilising the products of the creative ingenuity of our inventors and geniuses we have to toe the line of countries such as India, United Kingdom, United State and even Brazil. In such places there are policies and programs in place that foster the mass production of such new products. They have credible data of such inventions. They have pragmatic partnerships between the private sector and research institutes. There is mass publicity and well articulated adverts driving the exposure of such innovations to the public.

Now, back to the basics; what is tissue culture? What plants can be massed produced through the process? And what are their benefits to mankind? The answers are here stated as recently sent in by Ogunsola.

Plant tissue culture is the propagation of any part of the plant (cell, tissue, organ like stem, meristem, leaf, root, pollen) in artificial culture media under aseptic conditions. It is a biotechnological tool that is being used today to enhance sustainable agricultural production and food security. This technique is also referred to as in vitro regeneration or micro-propagation of plants. It was developed when the ability of any part of the plant to grow into a whole plant (totipotency) and raising plants in the laboratory where they can be made to multiply or produce root (plasticity) before taking them to farm were discovered. Methods under this form of planting crops include nodal or stem culture, seed culture, meristem culture, shoot-tip culture, cell culture, embryo culture, etc.

How plants are propagated in vitro?

Plant micro and macro-nutrient elements as we have in fertilizers were dissolved in sterile water and plant growth regulators or hormones which are naturally produced by plants were exogenously added to promote growth of plants in the test-tubes or bigger culture vessels. Other ingredients like sucrose, vitamins, iron, etc. were added in adequate quantity according to protocols already designed for different types of crops. Agar powder, which make the medium semi-solid to hold the plant upright, was added and the culture medium is dissolved using heater or microwave, poured into culture tubes and sterilised using autoclave. Plants to be cultured are also cut into pieces, sterilised by sodium hypochlorite as recommended and the transferred into the medium in an aseptic conditions to prevent microbial contamination.

What type of crop can be produced by this method?

Tissue Culture can be used to mass produce any type of crops provided there is established protocols for such crops. Presently, it is being used to mass propagate crops like cassava, yam, plantain and banana, sugarcane, tomatoes, potatoes, carrot and many other industrial crops like cut flowers, leafy vegetables, etc. The crops however required hardening in the nursery before being transplanted to the field except in some cases where they move from the nursery to the market like in some vegetables and cur flowers.

Benefits and applications of plant tissue culture

The global modern agriculture today require in vtiro regenerated plants for modern plant breeding techniques. Many countries of the world like Kenya which generate huge amount of revenue from export of cut flowers to Europe uses plant tissue culture to mass produce the flower while other countries like Israel without adequate agricultural land uses this methods in commercial production of vegetables like tomatoes, egg plants, etc. both for local use and export.

Plant tissue culture in an acceptable means of moving plants and plant materials across international borders because it produces clean, disease-free germplasm for exchange of plant genetic resources. For instance, viruses causing diseases in plants cannot be cure by chemical spray unlike diseases caused by bacteria and fungi and this technique can be used to produce virus-free from virus-infected plants, which are multiplied to produce healthy plants. The germplasm exchange is further facilitated by the ability to transport millions of planting materials in form of tissue cultured plants, thus saving cost of transportation.

It is also the best way of multiplying clonal (genetically similar) planting materials for commercial farming. Getting large quantity of similar crops like plantain, banana and pineapple suckers, etc. for planting hectares of land is a great challenge in developing world due to inadequacy and mixture of available cultivars which makes it difficult to mechanise the cropping. This technique proffers a solution to this challenge.

There are many other industrial applications of plant tissue culture. Chemicals of plant origin such as Azadiractin from plants called Azadirachta indica, codein from Artemisia spp.Pyrethrin from Chrysanthemum cinerariaefoliumnd so on which are used in pharmaceuticals, manufacturing insecticides and other house hold materials are obtained from cell culture.

Finally, this technique in greatly enhancing crop improvement, where breeders produce haploid plants using pollen and embryo culture and also manipulate crops for improved yield and productivity. Our research Institutes in Nigeria are also adopting the use of this technique. However, government and private institutions should embrace the use of plant tissue culture to enhance crop production and protection against the climate change which can result in sustainable agriculture and food security in Nigeria.

 

Ayo Oyoze Baje