Satureja bachtiarica micropropagation through somatic tissues: mass propagation and adaptation

Satureja bachtiarica Bunge is one of the endemic Satureja species in Iran, which has strong antioxidant and antimicrobial properties as well as economic and medicinal vlaue due to the presence of compounds like carvacrol and thymol in the essential oil and rosmarinic acid and other phenolic acids in the extract. In this study, 10 shooting and 8 rooting treatments were used in MS medium to produce clones of this species using micropropagation method. The shooting treatments were a combination of cytokinins (Kin, 2ip, and TDZ) and auxins (IBA and BA) with different concentrations. The rooting treatments were also a combination of different concentrations of auxins (IBA and NAA). The best shooting treatment [IBA (0.01 mg l-1), TDZ (0.05 mg l-1), and 2ip (0.3 mg l-1)] was recognized by examining traits such as number and length of main and secondary shoots, number of leaves, number of lateral active buds, and leaf colour. Number of main and lateral roots were also criteria for the best rooting treatment [IBA (0.5 mg l-1) and NAA (0.5 mg l-1)] selection. Since S. bachtiarica is an allogamous plant and has a high diversity for different traits like metabolites, practical purpose of the present study was mass production of identical individuals for use in breeding programs. This purpose was done by presenting the micropropagation protocol of this valuable plant.