In vitro rapid mass multiplication regeneration and enhanced secondary metabolite production of Ocimum gratissimum

Abstract

newlineOcimum gratissimum is an important medicinal perennial herb belonging to the family newlineLamiaceae and has enormous potential in cosmetic and drug industry due to occurrence of newlineseveral phytoconstituents. O. gratissimum is a standout amongst the most utilized therapeutic newlineplants as an overall wellspring of flavors and furthermore as a consolidated supply of extracts newlinewith several pharmacological activities. The demand of O.gratissimum is increasing day by day newlinethus there is a need to conserve genetic diversity of medicinal plant resources by developing newlineprotocols for micropropagation. Therefore present study was undertaken to set up a proficient newlinemass propagation system via nodal explants of O.gratissimum and to optimize the effect of newlineprecursor phenylalanine on the enhancement of eugenol production in vitro. Explants were newlinesurface sterilized with different sterilizing agents namely HgCl2 (0.05%- 0.5%), NaOCl (0.5%- newline2.0%) and H2O2 (3.0%-10.0%) by varying their concentration and time of exposure (1-15 newlineminutes) prior to inoculation on MS medium fortified with BAP and Kn (0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, newline3.0mg/L) alone as well as in combinations with IAA, NAA and IBA (0.25, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 newlinemg/L). It has been observed that among all the three sterilizing agents, HgCl2 at 0.1% for five newlineminutes gave 95% of healthy culture and significantly reduced the contamination of explants. newlineHighest shoot proliferation with maximum shoot number (31.2 ± 0.37) and maximum shoot newlinelength (7.84 ± 0.06 cm) was observed in MS medium fortified with 1.0mg/L BAP. The newlinesynergistic effect of BAP and auxins (IAA, NAA and IBA) were also evaluated on shoot newlinemultiplication of O.gratissimum. Among the various auxins tested 0.5mg/L IAA along with newline1.0mg/L BAP produced maximum number of shoots (37.60 ± 0.4) and maximum shoot length newline(9.08 ± 0.03cm) with 91% response comparatively. For root induction microshoots were excised newlineaseptically and then implanted on half strength MS medium fortified with various concentrations newlineof IAA, NAA and IBA (0.2