GROWTH AND PIGMENT PRODUCTION BY HAIRY ROOT CULTURES OF BETA-VULGARISL. IN A BUBBLE-COLUMN REACTOR

Beet hairy root cultures established from red and yellow varieties wer e grown in a 2 L bubble column reactor. The yellow clone showed profus e root hairs and a predominance of betaxanthin pigment while the red c lone showed fewer root hairs and both betaxanthin and betacyanin pigme nts. The cultures displayed different ionic and sugar yields: 2.1 mg d ry wt / mS.mL and 0.361 g dry wt / g sugar for the yellow clone and 2. 3 mg dry wt / mS.mL and 0.375 g dry wt / g sugar for the red one. Both cultures grew at the same specific growth rate of 0.22 d(-1) in the b ubble column, as compared to 0.32 d(-1) in shake flasks, indicating ma ss transfer limitations for growth in reactors.