Nutrient Uptake of Miscanthus In Vitro Cultures

Abstract

The large biomass production and the low input of fertilizer needed make Miscanthus an interesting potential non-food crop with broad applications, e.g., as fuel and energy, thatching, as fiber for production in the paper and car industry as well as ethanol production.

Axillary buds of Miscanthus × giganteus were placed on a shoot inducing nutrient solution (modified Murashige and Skoog, 1962) basic medium supplemented with 0.3 mg l⁻¹ 6-Benzylaminopurin. After 40 days of culturing the axillary buds, three times more shoots could be harvested. The nutrient content (N, P, K, Ca, Mg) was determined several times during the culturing. The results showed that after 35 days, nitrogen and phosphate were almost completely taken up and thereafter no shoot growth was observed.

After the shoot propagation the plants were transferred into a nutrient solution for root formation and could be potted in soil, after about 14 days.

Key Words:

• Miscanthus genotypes
• in vitro culture
• shoot induction
• nutrient uptake
• nitrate and phosphate content