Optimization of Arabidopsis germination system for nutritional studies under soilless culture

Arabidopsis thaliana is the most important model plant in plant nutrition studies, genetics, and plant biotechnology. Arabidopsis cultivation is mainly done in either soil or soilless systems. But hydroponic systems due to the exact control of plant nutritional needs and the substrate are more compatible for high accuracy experiments such as plant nutrition.Accordingly, this experiment was conducted to provide an optimized Arabidopsis germination system for production of healthy seedlings for soilless systems based on the agar-nutrient media.

Two milliliters microtubes were cut into 10 mm in length, and connected upsidedown to the table with adhesive tape then were filled with agar (0.55%) and mineral elements (Hoagland) medium (1:1V/V). Sterilized and stratified seeds were sown on filled microtubes and then transferred to the growth chamber. Germination percentage and growth parameters of seedlings were measured.

Results showed the effectiveness of the optimized germination system and also the agar-nutrient medium. Accordingly, seed germination percentage was more than 97.5%. Also, production of healthy seedlings (85%) especially the production of intact roots for various biological root and nutritional studies was another advantage of this experiment. Based on the results three weeks old plants were ready for transplanting to the main cultivation system.

The results of the present study led to the conclusion that optimized system and medium due to high efficiency, simple and possible design, precise control of the substrate and root medium, could be recommended for Arabidopsis germination experiments and also arabidopsis cultivation for nutritional purposes.