Abstract: A sustained-release granule of sugar comprising a core comprising primarily one or more of a monosaccharide, a disaccharide and a trisaccharide and an outer film comprising 10-90% by weight of an ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer and 90-10% by weight of a wax. This sustained-release granule of sugar may be prepared by coating a core comprising primarily one or more of a monosaccharide, a disaccharide and a trisaccharide with a coating material comprising 10-90% by weight of an ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer and 90-10% by weight of a wax by spraying a solution of the coating material onto the core while tumbling or fluidizing the core. The sustained-release granule of sugar can be applied in an artificial seed comprising an active plant tissue and the sustained-release granule of sugar which are encapsulated in a gel matrix.

Abstract: A delivery unit of plant tissue of the present invention comprises a vessel in which meristematic tissue having the ability to grow into an entire plant body through differentiation is received. The body of the vessel is made of water-soluble substance and the interior thereof is covered with a water-insoluble substance. Hydrogel is charged in the vessel and the meristematic tissue is held by the hydrogel in a state in which its root or rooting portion is embedded therein or it is placed on the hydrogel. The vessel has a structure of a closed type with a cap or an open type. When the delivery unit of plant tissue is seeded in a medium, the water-soluble substance of the vessel body is dissolved by water contained in the medium and the bud and root grown out of the meristematic tissue breaks the thin film made of a water-insoluble substance which is provided in the interior of the vessel so as to further grow out.

Abstract: A method in which a plant meristematic tissues which retain aqueous liquid on their surfaces are mixed with fine powder, thereby forming powder-coated bodies to which fine powder is adhered at the periphery thereof, so that meristematic tissues are separated from each other. A quantity of water or a liquid mainly consisting of water large enough to make fine powder adhere to the surfaces of the meristematic tissues which can grow into entire plant bodies directly or after they have passed through differentiation and organogenesis. The meristematic tissues are mixed with the fine powder which does not indicate adhesiveness at least during the mixing process. This mixing process is effected in such a manner that the powder is adhered to the tissues by gently shaking or agitating them without applying excessive shearing stress to the meristematic tissues.

Abstract: Coating method and apparatus, in which jet streams of a high-pressure fluid are ejected in the opposed directions into a pulverization zone in a pulverizer to hit a raw material conveyed by one of the jet streams on the other and thereby pulverize the same, the surfaces of particles of the resultant raw material are coated at the same time that the pulverization is done. The raw material to be pulverized is fed into the pulverization zone with a jet stream or by a mechanical means to be then accelerated by a jet stream therein. A coating material is fed in the same direction in which a jet stream flows, or directly into the pulverization zone.