Full Length Research Paper

Micropropagation of Origanum sipyleum L., an endemic medicinal herb of Turkey

Esin Akçam Oluk* and Ali Çakır

Ege University Science Faculty Biology Department 35100 Bornova-Izmir/Turkey

*Corresponding author. E-mail: esak_ol@yahoo.co.uk. Tel: +9 0232 3884000.

Fax: +9 0232 3881036.

Accepted 9 October, 2009

   Abstract

Origanum sipyleum L. (Lamiaceae) is an endemic species of the Western Anatolia, Turkey. Essential oils of oreganos are utilized in pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. A micropropagation protocol was developed using seedlings-derived explants. Shoot apices of 17d-old seedling were cultured and shoots multiplied on Murashige-Skoog modified (MSM) containing 550 mg/l of CaCl_{2 for sustained growth. Multiple shoots (3.7 ± 0.3 shoot/explant) were produced on medium containing 1 mg/L benzylaminopurine (BAP). On subculturing rated of shoot multiplication increased to 7.8 ± 0.4. 96% of the shoots rooted in a culture medium with 0.5 mg/L indolebutyric acid (IBA) after 3 weeks. The plantlets were acclimatized into outdoor conditions. 76% of these survived in the greenhouse. These in vitro derived microplants are already under the evaluation for their essential oil composition.}

Key words: Origanum sipyleum, micropropagation, benzylaminopurine, indolebutyric acid.