STANDARDIZATION OF TISSUE CULTURE CONDITIONS AND ESTIMATION OF FREE SCAVENGING ACTIVITY IN VIOLA ODORATA L.

Abstract

Tissue culture can be used as a tool for the conservation and commercialization of Viola odorata because of its intensive use in local market for medicinal purposes. In the present study an efficient protocol for in vitro callogenesis and organogenesis of medicinally important plant Viola odorata L. (Sweet violet) has been developed. Different explants used for callus induction were leaves, stem and petioles. Best callus induction (85%) was observed on media having 6- benzylaminopurine (BA) 2.5 mg/L and 2, 4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2, 4-D) 0.15mg/L after 40 days of incubation. Subsequent transfer of callus to shooting media has shown best shoot regeneration (having 4-5 cm length and 2-3 branches) on medium supplemented with 1-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) 0.5 mg/L, gibberellic acid (GA3) 1.5 mg/L, AgNO3 0.42 mg/L and thidiazuron (TDZ) 2.5 mg/L. An assay of the antioxidant potential of the in vitro grown callus and the wild plant extract was determined by DPPH (α, α-diphenyl-β-picrylhydrazyl) method shown that the antioxidant activity of in vitro formed callus is higher than that of wild plant.