Abstract
Brassinosteroids (BRs) are steroid phyotohormones that play roles in plant growth, secondary metabolite accumulation, stress response, and adaptation. Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) is an important plant with significant pharmacological effects due to its rich phytochemical content. Crocin, the main pigment of the saffron stigma, is a natural food colorant and has anti-cancer activity. In this study, the effects of 24-Epibrassinolide (EBL) at different concentrations (10-6, 10-7, 10-8 and 10-9 M) on corm (mother corm) and aerial part related parameters as well as the level of crocin in saffron were investigated. The experiment was conducted in a plant growth cabinet as randomized plots design with 3 replications. 24-Epibrassinolide treatments did not affect the rates of shoot emergence from saffron corms, while 10-8 and 10-9 M EBL treatments increased the number of active nodium and cormlet (daughter corm) as compared to control. All the applied EBL concentrations significantly increased the root and shoot lengths of saffron plants. The maximum number of flowers per plant was observed as a result of the 10-8 M EBL treatment. Exogenous treatment of 10-9 M EBL enhanced the crocin level by 96.0% compared to the control. This is the first study to evaluate the effects of BRs in saffron.
Highlights
Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) is a perennial, sterile and triploid plant that belongs to the Iridaceae family
The experiment was conducted in a plant growth cabinet as randomized plots design with 3 replications. 24-Epibrassinolide treatments did not affect the rates of shoot emergence from saffron corms, while 10-8 and 10-9 M EBL treatments increased the number of active nodium and cormlet as compared to control
A total of 120 healthy and uniform saffron corms were used. 24-Epibrassinolide (Sigma, Germany) hormone was prepared in accordance with the method of Fariduddin et al [24] and EBL concentrations used in the study were prepared by the dilution of stock solution
Summary
Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) is a perennial, sterile and triploid plant that belongs to the Iridaceae family. Both plant itself and spice obtained from dried stigmas are called saffron. 109-118 mg and stigmas of around 110.000-170.000 flowers should be collected by hand to obtain one kg of dry saffron [4]. In vivo and in vitro studies in different plants have revealed that secondary metabolite production is promoted by plant growth regulators (PGRs) [13]. It has been determined that BRs promote the production of secondary metabolites in different plants [19, 20], there are few studies on this subject [21]. The effects of the EBL hormone on corm and aerial part related parameters as well as the level of crocin in saffron were examined
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