Successful micropropagation of critically endangered Thymus bovei Benth : a wild medicinal plant strictly endemic to the Jordanian environment

english

2025

volume 121, issue 3

endangered plant   Jordan   medicinal plant   micropropagation   Thymus bovei   tissue culture

Univerza v Ljubljani, Biotehniška fakulteta
(Obvezni izvod spletne publikacije)

Thymus bovei Benth. (Lamiaceae), locally referred to as Zateer Barry, is a critically endangered native plant species in Jordan (Taifour and EL-Oqlah, 2014), renowned for its exceptional medicinal properties. This study aims to establish a reliable micropropagation technique to prevent T. boveifrom extinction. The research focused on explant establishment, shoot multiplication, rooting, callus induction, and acclimatization of T. bovei. Explants were established in a half-strength Murashige and Skoog (MS) media supplemented with different concentrations of gibberellic acid (GA3). Successful shoot multiplication was achieved by subculturing nodal segments onto half-strength MS medium supplemented with kinetin (KIN), thidiazuron (TDZ), or benzylaminopurine (BA). Among the treatments, the most effective medium for shoot multiplication was supplemented with 2.5 mg l-1 KIN and 0.5 mg l-1 GA3, which resulted in an average of 7.50 ± 0.54 micro-shoots per explant and a shoot length of 2.33 ± 0.18 cm. Rooting was most effective on half-strength MS media with 1.0 mg l-1 indole-3-butyric acid (IBA), yielding an average of 5.29 roots per microshoot. The highest callus development, measured by fresh mass (0.601 g), occurred in half-strength MS media with 2.0 mg l-1 2,4-D, while no callus formed with naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA). Acclimatized plants showed a 90 % survival rate when transferred to greenhouse conditions.

19.01.2026