Polyacrylamide Hydrogels With Amber for Plants Micropropagation

Abstract

The in vitro cultivation and reproduction of plants is one of the most modern and promising methods of cultivating valuable plants using artificial nutrient media. In this work, a new solid nutrient media for plant micropropagation based on highly dispersed polyacrylamide hydrogel (PAAG) with amber powder was synthesized and investigated. PAAG was synthesized by homophase radical polymerization with grounded amber addition. FTIR (Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy) and rheological studies were used to characterize structural properties of the materials. The synthesized hydrogel showed physicochemical and rheological parameters similar to the standard agar media. The estimation of acute toxicity of PAAG-amber was performed based on the influence of washing waters on the viability of the selected plant seeds (pea and chickpea) and animal (Daphnia magna). It proved its biosafety after four washes. The impact on plant rooting was studied using multiplication of Cannabis sativa on synthesized PAAG-amber saturated with Murashige-Skoog (MS) medium and compared with agar gel with MS. Developed substrate stimulated the rooting of the plants up to more than 98% in comparison to standard agar medium (95%). Also, PAAG-amber nutrient medium markedly enhanced metric indicators of seedling: root length increased by 28%, stem length – by 26.7%, root weight – by 167%, stem weight – by 67%, root and stem length – by 27%, root and stem weight – by 50%. This means that the developed hydrogel significantly accelerates reproduction and allows obtaining a larger amount of plant material within a shorter period than the standard agar medium.