protocorm biomass. Medium supplemented with 1% banana
homogenate resulted in 19.20 g/cutlure fresh biomass and 1.62
g/culture dry biomass (Table 5). The maximum polysaccharide
content (440.51 mg·g-1 DW) was recorded in the cultures
supplemented with 1% banana homogenate (Table 6). Whereas
production of polyphenolics (15.37 mg·g-1 DW) and flavonoids
(5.08 mg·g-1 DW) was maximum in a medium supplemented
with 9% coconut water. This differential accumulation of
bioactive compounds might be due to the variation in nutrient
components of organic supplements.
The present study manifests the successful establishment
of protocorm suspension cultures of Dendrobium candidum
for the production of polysaccharides, polyphenolics and
flavonoids. The accumulation of biomass and bioactive compounds
was influenced by the auxins, types of basal media,
sucrose, nitrogen levels and organic supplements. The current
studies suggest that MS basal medium supplemented with
0.5 mg·L-1 NAA, 5:25 NH4:NO3 ratio of nitrogen, moderate
levels of sucrose (2.5%), 1% banana homogenate supplementation
were most suitable for biomass and bioactive
compound production. The results obtained are useful for
the large-scale cultivation of protocorms to produce the
bioactive compounds.
Acknowledgements: This study was supported by a grant
of Korea Healthcare Technology R&D project, Ministry of
Health and Welfare, Republic of Korea (Grant No. A103017).
Dr. H. N. Murthy is thankful to Ministry of Education, Science
and Technology, Republic of Korea for the award of Brain
Pool Fellowship (131S-4-3-0523) and this paper was supported
by Ministry of Science, ICT and Planning (MSIP).