Assessment of micropropagation and flavonoid content of hawthorn through tissue culture

Hawthorn (Crataegus sp.) is one of the plants، which suffers of low seed germination rate. Purposes of this research was evaluation of optimizing a medium for propagation of hawthorn and comparison of callus flavonoid، to that of leaf and fruit of the species. Media including MS، N6 and B5 supplemented by various plant growth regulators were used. The study was carried out based on a completely randomized design with 3 replicates. Flavonoid content was determined using a colorimetric (Aluminum Chloride) method. Results showed that mercuric chloride %0. 02 for 3 min، ethanol %70 for 2 min and NaOCl for 15 min were the best treatments for sterilization. N6 medium supplemented with 7 mg/L BA + 1. 5 mg/L NAA was the best medium for callus induction. The most regeneration was observed in B5 medium supplemented with 0. 49 mg/L BA + 0. 49 mg/L Kin and 0. 1 mg/l IAA and MS medium supplemented with 1 mg/L BA + 0. 5 mg/L IAA was the best for multiplication. Rooting was observed only in MS medium supplemented with 1 mg/L IBA with low frequency. The results indicated that flavonoid content of leaf was more than fruit and flavonoid content of callus was very low.