Callus inductions and Phytochemical Determination of Artichoke (Cynara scolymus) growing in Iraq

Abstract

The artichoke (Cynara scolymus) belongs to Asteraceae family. It is included in British and European Pharmacopeia and has long–used in traditional medicine in several countries. The plant primarily grows in North Africa and Mediterranean; in addition, it is cultivated around the world. Artichoke is wildly distributed in Iraq at the watery lines and boundary of the field. The aim of study was to induce callus from leaves as explants, and to compare between contents of total phenolic and total flavonoids that extracted from the induced callus and from leaves. The induced callus was maintained on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with Naphthalene Acetic Acid (NAA) and Benzyl Adenine (BA). The highest percentage of callus (100%) was induced from the combination (5mg/l NAA plus 2 mg/l BA), followed by (86.67%) with the combination (3mg/l NAA plus 1mg/l BA). Two types of callus (friable and compact) were induced. The extract of friable callus produced 0.858 mg/g of total phenolic, while leaves extract produced 167.24 µg/ mg of total flavonoids. Auxins and cytokinins that added together in the culture medium seemed to be necessary for artichoke tissue culture.