Abstract

SUMMARY This study aimed to develop a suitable, economical, biologically degradable, non-toxic, from locally available naturally occurring constituents for low-tech biotechnological procedures in resource poor developing nations. Tea (Camellia sinensis L) whole immature and mature embryos and their respective component parts (embryo axis and cotyledons) were subjected to invitro manipulation on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium modified with locally sourced substitutes of plant, sea and soil origin. Natural alternatives explored were earthworm cast (EWC), Trona (T) and sea water (SW). Each of this replaced the MS salts while honey replaced the vitamins in MS. Sugarcane replaced sucrose while cassava starch substituted for agar. Explants were scored for survival (SV), plantlet formation (PF) and for somatic embryogenesis (SE). Honey did not effectively substitute the MS vitamins but the sugarcane was the best and most suitable among all the substitutions made. Mature embryos turned green on the earthworm cast based media without germinating; it turned pink in SW indicating low level of anthocyanin synthesis. General trends showed that SW medium was superior to EWC medium while trona medium was poorer. None of the natural media formulated equated the effectiveness and characteristics of the standard MS salts formulation. A major observation is that there are poorer SE development and very slow growth of the plantlets, SE became dormant at the globular or heart shaped stage of embryogenesis. The ultimate goal of this study was to develop a procedure for compounding a natural nutrient medium for tissue culture. The results indicate that there is potential to use natural compounds for tissue culture media to reduce pollutants that are generated as wastes from various laboratories and industries.