The Effect of Dissolved Oxygen Concentration on Growth and Differentiation of Carrot (Daucus carota) Tissue

For suspension cultures of carrot tissue there is a critical level of dissolved oxygen concentration. Below this level, dry weight increased linearly with time while cell numbers increased exponentially, creating ‘meristematic-like’ conditions in the culture. These conditions favoured differentiation into plantlets by embryogenesis while conditions above the critical level, when both cell dry weight and cell numbers increased exponentially, favoured plantlet differentiation by rhizogenesis. Different light treatments affected the yield of structures formed but did not prevent oxygen from controlling the differentiation pathway.