Assessing the effects of auxin along with calcium and nitrate concentration altrations on the biomass and alkaloids in H. arachnoideus Pojark tissue cultures.

Medicinal plants are the most exclusive source of life saving drugs for majority of the world’s population. Plant tissue cultures can be established routinely under sterile conditions from explants, such as plant leaves, stems, roots, etc. Both for multiplication and extraction of secondary metabolites. Solanaceous plants, such as genus Hyoscyamus, are regarded as rich sources of tropane alkaloids. Present study, H.arachnoideus Pojark, were investigated. Three types of explants (leaf, root) derived from seedlings, were cultured on Murashige and Skoog’s medium supplemented with 3% sucrose, 0.75% (w/v) agar. We investigated the effect of different concentrations of Ca2+, NO-3 on Murashige and Skoog’s medium supplemented with 3% sucrose and 0.75% (w/v) agar in two explant types (leaf and root) of H.arachnoideus with four concentration levels of auxin naphthalene acetic acid(0, 0.5, 1, 2 mg/l), in compare with Murashige and Skoog’s medium supplemented with 3% sucrose, 0.75% (w/v) agar as control, In order to determine callus biomass and total alkaloid content. Our findings showed that, increased concentrations of Ca2+ was found to have positive effect on callus biomass and total alkaloid content. NO-3 had different effects on callus biomass and alkaloid production, but increased concentrations of NO-3 could enhance callus biomass and decrease alkaloid content, in some cases.