Starches as solidifiers for medicinal plant micropropagations and biomass accumulations

Abstract

In plant tissue and cell culture studies, media compositions are one of the most important factors affecting the micropropagation procedure's efficiency. Micropropagation studies can be conducted for commercial productions of medicinal plants, and low-cost options always have significance in large-scale productions. Some media component substitutes have been studied to reduce production costs. Agar, the media solidifier, is one of the most expensive components of media compositions. In this study, corn and wheat starches were used as media solidifiers at 80 and 100 g/L concentrations, and their effects on plant growth (shoot elongations, shoot, node, and root numbers) and biomass accumulations (shoot and root fresh and dry weights) in Lavandula officinalis and Digitalis purpurea node cultures were reported. The results showed that starch type and their concentrations significantly affected plant growth. Maximum multiple shoot number was recorded in medium supplemented with 80 g/L starch and was 61.3% higher than the control. Biomass accumulations were not statistically significant; however, higher biomass accumulations were detected in starch-added media than in control. Consequently, corn and wheat starches can be used at these concentrations as a substitute for agar to induce multiple shoot formations in L. officinalis and D. purpurea node cultures.