[Letter to the editor] Ethylene emitted by nylon membrane filters questions their usefulness to transfer plant seedlings between media

Abstract

Transfer of seedlings between media is a time-consuming process because the traditional, widely used method involves using forceps to transfer the plantlets one by one. The previously reported solution to avoid such a laborious procedure is the use of nylon membrane filters placed onto the surface of a medium. Despite the increasing popularity of this approach, justification for choosing nylon membranes and their evaluation as a tool for such methods have not been performed yet. In this work we have shown that wet nylon filters, when placed on the surface of the medium, emit significant amounts of ethylene, a gaseous phytohormone which plays a major role in many aspects of plant development and their response to environmental signals. Therefore, our results indicate that the use of nylon membranes as a material for seedling growth support may be problematic due to the risk of introducing an additional, uncontrolled factor during experiments.