Novel pilot bioreactor for scale up Gynura procumbens adventitious root culture

Adventitious root culture and the development of a bioreactor are methods to obtain biomass and plant bioactive compounds in large quantities faster than conventional plant cultivation. These technologies provide an excellent opportunity to produce biomass and bioactive compounds from plants, especially Gynura procumbens. Previous reports mentioned a small-scale bioreactor could increase biomass and bioactive compounds of G. procumbens adventitious roots. Therefore, a larger bioreactor for adventitious root culture is necessary to develop. In this study, the development of the 19 L pilot bioreactor was successful. The optimal condition for bioreactor sterilization is 1.8 bar for 60 min using an autoclave. We found that G. procumbens adventitious roots culture in pilot bioreactors has resulted in optimal biomass using MS-Tek media (technical grade) compared to MS-PA (pro analyze) media after 35 d of the culture period. Although, higher productivity of total phenolics and total flavonoids in G. procumbens roots has been achieved from MS-PA media rather than MS-Tek media. In further study, it is necessary to evaluate the effect of technical-grade chemicals on kinetics root growth and chemical uptake. The hope is to obtain a suitable media formulation with affordable cost for adventitious root culture production.