In vitro regeneration in medicinal plant fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.)

Abstract

Fenugreek (<em>Trigonella foenum-graecum </em>L.) is a medicinal plant used as a traditional medicine. Two of the most important medicinal components are diosgenin and trigonelline that have many medicinal properties including anticancer, decreasing blood sugar and cholesterol. <em>In vitro</em> optimization of callus induction and shoot regeneration is the first step in the optimum production of secondary metabolites through plant tissue culture techniques and genetic engineering. To achieve this goal, leaf, hypocotyl and embryo axis explants were cultured on Murashige-Skoog (MS) medium containing various concentrations of naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) (0, 0. 5, 1.5 and 2 mg L<strong>^-</strong>¹) in combination with 6-benzyl adenine (BA) (0, 0.5, 1 and 1.5 mg L<strong>^-</strong>¹) producing 48 treatments. The data were analyzed by the non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis test and the means were compared by the U test of Mann Whitney at 5% probability level. The result of the analysis indicated a significant difference between treatments. Simultaneous callus induction and shoot regeneration occurred in the MS medium supplemented with 0.5 mg L<strong>^-</strong>¹NAA withoutBA for the embryo axis explant. However, higher frequency of callus induction for leaf and hypocotyl explants was obtained in the higher concentration of NAA (2 mg L<strong>^-</strong>¹).<br />