Thesis (BS Biology) -- University of the Philippines Mindanao, 2004

Metroxylon sagu Rottb. produces huge amount of starch. The use of tissue culture in sago is beneficial since it has the potential to produce thousands of plantlets in a short period of time. Prior to inoculation to their specific media, they should each pass through sterilization treatment, which minimized the degree of contamination in cultures. Sago shoot tips were first exposed to different commercial chlorine concentrations (5%, 10%, 15%, 20%) at different times of exposure (5, 10, 15, 0 minutes) to find out the optimum combination for sterilization. A high percent recovery was found at 15% concentration at 20 minutes. However, there was no statistical significance between chlorine concentration and time of exposure. Then, the explants were cultured to different media with different concentrations of plant growth regulators, specifically, auxin and cytokinin, for callus initiation. The use of these plant growth regulators enhanced callus formation and shoot elongation. The auxin used was 2, 4-dichlorophenoxyacetic aced (2,4-D) at 0-50, and 100 ppm. The cytokinin used was N6-(2-isopentyl) adenine (2-iP) with concentrations of 0, 0.3, and 0.5 ppm. The optimum treatment combination was treatment 5 and 50 ppm 2,4-D and 0.3 ppm 2-iP. The presence of 2,4-D at this level resulted to a high mean percent callus formation. However, at higher than 50ppm 2,4-D, less callus formation was observed because of its inhibitory effect. Meanwhile, at 0.3 ppm 2-iP showed a high weight increase due to shoot formation. Callus formation and shoot elongation contributed significantly to weight inc