Microbial contaminants of cultured <i>Hibiscus cannabinus</i> and <i>Telfaria occidentalis</i> tissues

Abstract

Nine microbial contaminants comprising of five bacteria and four fungi species were isolated from Hibiscus cannabinus and Telfaria occidentalis cultured tissues. The rate of occurrence of bacteria isolates was higher than that of fungi. The bacterial isolates includes Pseudomonas syringae pv phaseolicoli, Bacillus licheniformis, Bacillus subtilis, Corynebacterium sp and Erwinia sp. While fungal contaminats includes Alterneria tenius, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus fumigatus and Fusarium culmorum. Possible sources of contamination and means of eliminating these contaminants is discussed.

Key Words: Micro-propagation, plant tissue culture, bacterial and fungal isolates, contamination.

African Journal of Biotechnology Vol.3(9) 2004: 473-476