The experiment was carried out to study the effect of different
strength of POME media on the in vitro micropropagation of H.
calltrichoides. In this experiment, full strength MS medium was
chosen as control so that the explants produced by POME media
could be compared. Statistical analysis was done to determine
optimum POME concentration for propagation of H. calltrichoides
from treated POME media prepared. The propagation of this
aquatic plant could be observed through the fresh biomass
increment in term of growth index after
fifteen days from day
of cultivation. The mean growth index of explant after
fifteen days
was calculated and tabulated as shown in Fig. 2. Based on Fig. 2, we
could see that the growth index of the control explant (liquid full
strength MS media) was significantly greater than all the explants
cultured using POME media (P < 0.05). The mean growth index of
explants cultured in full MS media, full strength POME media, 1/
2 strength POME media,1/4 strength POME media and 1/8 strength
POME media were 6.70
0.76 g/g, 2.62
0.32 g/g, 3.92
0.37 g/g,
3.65
0.27 g/g and 2.74
0.14 g/g respectively. Among all the
growth media, the control explant (MS media) had the maximum
growth index in H. callitrichoides which was followed by 1/
2 strength POME media, 1/4 strength POME media and minimum
at full strength POME and 1/8 strength POME media. This might be
due to the presence of tannic acid or tannins in the POME media,
which acted as a protoplasmic poison to most of the plants by
inhibiting their growth metabolism [16].