International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences
Effect of different concentration of sterilant and exposure time on sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas Lam) explants
ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 2 Number 8 (2013) pp. 14-20
N.C.Onwubiko*, C.S.Nkogho, C.P.Anyanwu, and G.C.Onyeishi
Department of Crop Science and Technology, Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Nigeria *Corresponding author e-mail: onwubikouche@yahoo.com
A B S T R A C T
Investigation on the effect of different levels of concentration of sterilant (Sodium hypochlorite or bleach) and exposure time on sweet potato explants was conducted at Tissue Culture Laboratory of National Root Crop Research Institute Umudike, to determine the appropriate concentration of sterilant and exposure time to produce clean culture. The experiment was a 5x5 factorial in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) and the data collected were analyzed with Genstat Release VS 2008. Ipomea 87/00087 collected directly from the field was used in the study and was incubated in a culture room at 28 oC 2 and exposed to artificial illumination of 2000 2500 lux for 16 hours daily for seven days. The result showed that Sodium hypochlorite is not a very good sterilant as very high percentage of the explants was contaminated in all the experiments conducted. However a low percentage (40%) of clean culture was observed at 20% sterilant concentration and 20 minutes exposure time. 
Keywords
Sterilant (Sodium hypochlorite) concentration; exposure time, sweet potato explants.