Abstract
An efficient micropropagation protocol for Rheum rhabarbarum L. was developed in this study. The in vitro rhubarb plants obtained in the multiplication stage (proliferation rate: 5.0 ± 0.5) were rooted in vitro (96% rooting percentage) and acclimatized ex vitro in floating perlite, with 90% acclimatization percentage. To assess the genetic fidelity between the mother plant and in vitro propagated plants, sequence-related amplified polymorphism (SRAP) markers were used. All banding profiles from the micropropagated plants were monomorphic and similar to those of the mother plant indicating 100% similarity. Regarding the polyphenolic profile, gallic, protocatechuic, p-hydroxybenzoic, vanillic, chlorogenic, caffeic, syringic, p-coumaric and ferulic acid were present in different amounts (2.3–2690.3 μg g−1 dry plant), according to the extracted matrix. Aglicons and glycosides of different classes of flavonoids were also identified. The rhizome extracts (both from in vitro and field grown plants) contained resveratrol, a stilbene compound with high antioxidant properties, ranging between 229.4 to 371.7 μg g−1 plant. Our results suggest that in vitro propagation of Rheum rhabarbarum L. represents a reliable alternative to obtain a large number of true-to-type planting material with high bioactive compound content of this valuable nutritional and medicinal species.
Highlights
Rhubarb is a widespread perennial plant that belongs to the Polygonaceae family which includes approx. sixty species of the Rheum genus [1], including Rheum rhabarbarum
Murashige and Skoog medium (MSm) without plant growth regulators generated shoots that grew more in height (8–10 cm) and emerged roots, whereas on the media supplemented with Benzyladenine (BA) at concentrations of 0.5 mg L−1, 1 mg L−1, 2 mg L−1 and 4 mg L−1, the number of rhubarb plantlets obtained by axillary shoot proliferation increased proportionally with BA concentration
Our results show that rhubarb rhizome extracts were rich in catechin, but field grown plants had a higher amount of catechin (1463.3 μg g−1 ) compared to those grown in vitro (807.3 μg g−1 )
Summary
Rhubarb is a widespread perennial plant (vegetable) that belongs to the Polygonaceae family which includes approx. sixty species of the Rheum genus [1], including Rheum rhabarbarum. Rhubarb is a widespread perennial plant (vegetable) that belongs to the Polygonaceae family which includes approx. Sixty species of the Rheum genus [1], including Rheum rhabarbarum. Rhubarb plants are grown especially due to the easy and low input cultivation techniques that they require which make this plant profitable and commercially reasonable to grow [2]. Rhubarb plants have been known since ancient times due to their pharmacological potential. Rhubarb contains a wide variety of bioactive compounds such as flavonoids, anthraquinone, glycosides, tannins, volatile oils and saponins [1,5,6,7], and plays an important role as an antifungal, antioxidant, hepatoprotective, nephroprotective and immune modulatory agent in pharmacological studies [8,9]. Various chemical constituents have been isolated from Rheum species, but the most important ones include stilbenes
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