Mehrzad Honarvar
Islamic Azad University, Iran
Title: The first report on factors affecting tissue culture of Thymus Transcaspicus Klokov from Iran
Biography
Biography: Mehrzad Honarvar
Abstract
Khorasani thyme (Thymus transcaspicus Klokov) is an important thyme species of Lamiaceae family. This species is an evergreen and aromatic herb with culinary and medicinal use. Thymus transcaspicus is distributed in Iran and Turkmenistan. There is no report on in vitro propagation of Khorasani thyme. This study was conducted in Thymus transcaspicus for studying the factors affecting tissue culture on this species for the first time. For this purpose, different concentrations of BAP (0, 0.25, 0.5, 1.5, 2 and 3 mg l-1) and IBA (0, 0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2 mg l-1) were added into MS and MS/2 media. The best result for disinfection obtained with the using 70% alcohol for 5 sec. and 20% Clorox for 10 min. The results indicated that MS/2 medium was more effective in terms of explant growth compared with MS medium. The results demonstrated that, application of 1.5 mg l-1 IBA plus 0.5 mg l-1 BAP increased plant height, leaf width, and internode length as well as internode number. Furthermore, application of 1 mg l-1 IBA plus 3 mg l-1 BAP increased leaf length, fresh and dry weight and plant number. According to the results, application of 1.5 mg l-1 IBA improved root number and root length, while application of 1 and 2 mg l-1 increased root diameter in thyme plants.