Flasking

Flasking of seeds needs the most careful manipulation since it is during this process that most of the contaminations occur. The hands should be washed in a weak solution of the sterilant . It is even better to use a pair of sterilied gloves . The surface on which this operation is to be performed is wiped with a cloth dipped in the sterilising solution . Special inoculation chambers are also available to do the flasking with the least chance of contamination .

The medium in the flask is allowed to cool and jel properly . The seeds are intoduced into the flask by means of a sterile dropper or a platinum loop. The neck of the bottle is wiped with sterilising solution or flamed and the stopper is put back . The whole procedure should be over within as short a time as possible . The liquid introduced along with the seeds is swirled gently inside the flask so that the seeds are evenly distributed over the surface of the solidified medium. The flask is then kept on a shelf under a tube -light.