Evaluation of Cuminaldehyde Production as an Odorant via Co-culture of Black Zira (Bunium persicum Boiss.) and Caraway (Carum carvi L.) Cells

To stimulate the production of Cumin aldehyde as an odorant with application in food sciences via co-cultures of cells¡ two medicinal plants¡ Bunium persicum and Carum carvi¡ were chosen. The cell cultures of both plants were established separately. In this study some basic experiments were also done due to the fact that no research reports were found on C. carvi in case of seed germination¡ callus induction and establishment of cell suspension cultures. The cells of B. persicum and C. carvi were combined together in different ratios (100:0¡ 25:75¡ 50:50 and 75:25) to study their interaction on cumin aldehyde production in a co-culture system. For Gas chromatography (GC) analysis of cumin aldehyde¡ the cells and medium were homogenized and then extracted with ethyle acetate at room temperature and then analyzed by GC. The results revealed that in contrast to black zira for seed germination process¡ Caravie seeds do not need chilling. It has also been found that sucrose at the level of 3% is suitable for increasing the biomass of Caravie cells in MS medium. The results of co-culture of B. persicum and C. carvi cells demonstrated that at the combination of B. persicum (25%) and C. carvi (75%) the production of cumin aldehyde could be increased to the level of 23.1 mg/100 g extract after five weeks which is higher than B. persicum (100%) at similar period with 17.5 mg/100 g extract. It is also found that the production of cumin aldehyde has an increasing trend till 5th week and then decreased to the minimum level in the 7th week.