In vivo and in vitro propagation of “macela”: a medicinal-aromatic native plant with ornamental potential

Abstract

Achyrocline satureioides is a shrub native from South America. In popular medicine it is used in infusions such as digestive, carminative, antispasmodic, eupeptic and emmenagogue. However, its main use is as an ingredient in the liquor industry. Commercial exploitation is carried out through the collection of natural populations in an unsustainable way. The micropropagation of A. satureioides will allow its massive propagation and it will settle a base for its domestication. For this, a clone denominated as M1-5 was first propagated by cuttings. Subsequently, nodal segments obtained from young stems were disinfected by a standard method and cultured on MS medium. These shoots were used as a source of explants for subsequent assays. For its in vitro establishment MS medium and WPM were tested. Once the culture was established, the responses of the explants to increasing concentrations of 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP) (0.0; 0.5; 2.5 and 5.0 μM) with and without 0.05 μM α-naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) on WPM as basal medium were studied during 35 days. The proliferation of buds, the presence of callus and the number and length of the roots were evaluated. All of the “macela” cuttings in vivo propagated rooted and developed satisfactorily under the conditions tested. The application of 5.0 μM BAP alone generated the best multiplication rate, so it was selected as the multiplication medium. De novo shoots rooted spontaneously and finally, transferred to the greenhouse. Here in it was possible to establish a micropropagation protocol not only for the production of plantlets of selected clones but also for the application of biotechnological tools in the development of A. satureioides germplasm.