What is the Tissue Culture Process and Why is it in Demand?

Table of Contents

Tissue culture is a technique of growing new plant tissue by transferring them into an artificial environment in which they can continue to grow, and function. This article deals with tissue culture: the process, its importance, and its advantages over other forms of planting.

As in most industries, profit is king in the cannabis trade. Even though the industry has only just begun to take root in the global market, the demand is already high. Do you know what an essential element is in the cannabis industry? Whether it is a full-spectrum CBD oil or CBD-isolate banana bread, the most critical aspect of your product is quality.

In order to profit from selling high-quality products, cannabis companies need to produce a high yield of quality plants in sterile conditions. Thanks to cell technology, the tissue culture process is one way to ensure that this happens.

So, you want to know what the tissue culture process is, hey? Well, take a look at this simple, step-by-step summary of the tissue culture process. If you just came here to find out what tissue culture process is, here you go, but keep reading if you want to find out why cultivators are scrambling to use this process and why it is in such demand.

There are three primary stages in the tissue culture process:

Stage 1

This is the initial stage, and it involves establishing the plant tissues in the appropriate in vitro. It is critical that this is done under sterilized conditions, and that the material is sterilized. The sterilized material is then introduced to the tissue culture.

Stage 2

In this phase, multiplication takes place. The plant material in vitro is then divided again and then placed into material for plant growth. Here, the plant material is also supported by regulators that support multiple shoot proliferation. Depending on the total number of plants desired, this process will be repeated.

Stage 3

In this phase, roots begin to form. Hormones stimulate this, and plants begin to form complete plantlets.

Once these three phases have been completed, the plants are then transported to greenhouses. Here they become accustomed to life outside the stringent laboratory conditions. If you are looking to use tissue culture at home, then look out for a quality tissue culture kit that you can use for your DIY tissue culture.

Use of Tissue Culture Technique

Whether it's being used for chrysanthemum, carnation, or cannabis, the tissue culture process is used across agricultural industries for micropropagation, to yield significant results.

Why The Tissue Culture Process is in Demand

Naturally, if a particular thing (in this case: tissue culture) is in demand, then there are certain advantages to it that people are eager to, well, take advantage of.

These include:

1. Speed. Tissue culture takes a remarkably short amount of time. It is fast and effective. In just a matter of weeks, you can produce thousands of platelets - all of which came from a minor amount of plant tissue.

2. Health. You won't have to worry about your new plants having diseases since plants produced by the tissue culture process are often free from disease.

3. Flexibility. By using tissue culture, cultivators can grow plants all year round, regardless of the season and the weather it may bring.

4. Space. Tissue culture does not require an excessive amount of space. Planters can grow ten times the plants in one-tenth the space of traditional growing operations.

5. Variety. New varieties are produced, cultivated and introduced to the market at a higher speed.

6. Disease. Tissue culture could help prevent the spread of disease and viruses in new plants.

So, we now see how tissue culture is a process that can help a grower use new genes to transform plants. But how is the Tissue Culture process impacting the cannabis industry?

What is the Offspring of a Seed and a Clone?

Since seeds are produced as the follow up to sexual reproduction, each seed will have its own unique genetic blueprint, unique even in comparison to the parent plant. With clones, this is not the case. Because clones are micro-propagated from the mother plant, they have an identical genetic profile as the mother plant.

In cannabis, where the exact genetic profile is often in desire, then tissue culture is the way to go. In many strains, such as the much loved Exodus Cheese strain, it is only considered a 'true' Exodus if it was produced using tissue culture from the true mother exodus plant. In this way, cultivators can ensure the genetics of the plants they are growing.

Although commercialized decades ago, the tissue culture process has only recently caught the attention of the cannabis industry and is already causing transformations across the space.

While we could go on a tirade of how the lack of knowledge and long legs of legal hurdles have delayed the cannabis industry from adopting this process, it doesn't do much good. Now that the cannabis industry is beginning to set its sights on globalization, the tissue culture process, for reasons listed above, is important if not critical to its sustainable growth.

Resources:

https://www.intechopen.com/books/recent-advances-in-plant-in-vitro-culture/plant-tissue-culture-current-status-and-opportunities

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/biochemistry-genetics-and-molecular-biology/tissue-culture

https://www.jagranjosh.com/general-knowledge/what-...