Physical Properties of Culture Vessels for Plant Tissue Culture

Plant tissue culture vessels with their caps or closures made the boundaries between the internal microenvironment and the external environment of outside air. The physical properties of the vessels and caps or closures affected the growth microenvironment of plantlets by the interface between inside and outside environments. The most important specifications for vessels are to provide uniform and adequate light quality, to isolate contaminating of microorganisms and to allow gas exchange. Seven types of culture vessels were selected in this study. Some physical properties are determined including air exchange rate, transmittance distribution, and spectral irradiance. The results indicated that air exchange rates of culture vessels ranged between 0·0145 and 0·0811 h−1. The transmittance distribution of vessels with round bases was more uniform than that of vessels with rectangular bases. Spectral irradiance was significantly affected by its material characteristics.