Tissue culture must be performed under clean or aseptic conditions. This requires the explant be disinfested to remove any surface contamination that would quickly grow on the medium.
Explants are usually disinfested by immersion in an agitated 10 - 15% bleach solution that contains a small amount of detergent for 10 -15 minutes.
In difficult cases, a brief ethanol pre-dip and fungicides may also be used.
