Application of Markov Chain in a production process of in vitro plants

Abstract

The application of Biotechnology includes a number of industrial processes involving living organisms or parts of them. The interaction of genotype with other industrial manipulation factors, characterized by predictable actions and random elements, makes the system to be stochastic. Commercial production of in vitro plants is one example of the biotechnology industry, where the production process consists of the propagation of plants in sterile growth media under controlled physical conditions. During this process, contamination or death of in vitro plants is considered as scrap (waste); however, if plants present oxidation or deformation they have to be reworked, in order to recover or reincorporate to the previous stage. Plant material requirement to accomplish a client demand was studied using the in vitro production process of Solanum tuberosum from the company VitroPlant S.A., to establish a model using Markov Chain Method, in which scrap and rework are included. Thus, the Markov method is a viable option in biological production processes that could be applied to other plant species and even other systems using different living organisms, such as fungi, bacteria, insects and algae, common in the industry.