Effects of plant growth regulators, different culture media and strength MS on production of volatile fraction composition in shoot cultures of Ocimum basilicum.

The influence of different culture media, strength MS media and plant growth regulators (PGR) was assessed through the growth and production of the volatile fraction composition in Ocimum basilicum (basil). The treatments were: the use of different culture media (MS, B5 and WPM), strength MS media (2MS, MS, ½MS and ¼MS) and different PGR combinations or only IAA, NAA, IBA, BAP and TDZ. The leaf number, nodal segment, shoot number, lenght, shoot dry weight, root number, root size, root dry weight, as well as the volatile fraction analysis through Head-Space – GC/MS were assessed at the 40th culture day. The present results suggest that media type, MS concentration and the growth regulator types have qualitative and quantitatively influenced the growth and volatile composition. A higher amount of methyleugenol in the media 2MS and ¼MS, and higher content of linalool and 1,8-cineole in MS and WPM were observed. The PGR improved biomass production and induced quantitative modifications in the production of major volatile constituents in Ocimum basilicum plantlets, although the same major compounds were produced in all treatments. There was a tendency to estragole synthesis in the presence of auxin combined with cytokinin. There was a tendency to linalool synthesis in the presence of auxin isolates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]