The use of agar alternatives in cypress in vitro culture (Cupressus sempervirens var. horizontalis)

In this article, possibility of using of plant seeds of Lallemantia, Sand plantain and chia also tragacnth (50, 100 and 150 g/l), starch of wheat and corn (100, 150 and 200 g/l) instead of agar (6, 7 and 8 g/l) in MS medium by 4000 years old of Abarkooh cypress explant (Cupressus sempervirens var. horizontalis) was investigated. After 30 days of shoot explant establishment in culture medium, percentage of browning, degree of greening and the number of new buds were evaluated. According to the results, the highest and the lowest percentage of browning were obtained in 50, 100 and 150 g/l of chia and agar treatment respectively and it did not show significant difference with starch of corn, sand plantain and lallemantia seeds treatments. With increasing the concentration of materials, percentage of browning decreased. The highest degree of greening was observed in 150 g/l lallemantia and sand plantain seeds and 200 g/l starch of corn treatments and it did not show significant difference with agar (6 g/l). The lowest degree of greening was obtained in two concentrations of 150 and 200 g/l of chia seeds treatments. The highest number of buds was observed in agar treatment by concentrations of 6 and 7 g/l. According to the results, among different investigated materials in this paper, starch of corn was the best and it is also cost-effective compared to the agar.