Growth of Dioscorea deltoidea at high sugar concentrations.

Dioscorea deltoidea cell suspension cultures were grown at initial sucrose concentrations of 35 to 200 g/L. The growth rates were similar (about 0.50 day(-1)) with all of the initial sugar concentrations examined. The ratio of fresh weight to dry weight of cells was dependent on the initial sugar concentration, however, it remained fairly constant as long as the sugar was present in the growth medium. These results are different from results recently published, claiming that the growth rate of D. deltoidea cells is dependent on sugar concentration and the fresh weight to dry weight ratio increases throughout growth.