Evaluation of Callus Induction and Somatic Embryogenesis in Black Cumin (Bunium persicum Boiss)

Black cumin (Bunium persicum Boiss.) belongs to Apiaceae family. Despite the importance of this medicinal plant in pharmacognesis, due to problems of germination and growth over long periods, yet in the country has not been domesticated and grown in nature wildly. Techniques such as tissue culture can reduce the period of growth in this plant effectively. The aim of the research: optimization of somatic embryogenesis toward production and commercialization of this plant for the pharmaceutical usage and artificial seed production were studied. Hypocotyl and cotyledon leaves of Esfahan ecotype were used as explants. MS medium supplemented with 14 different hormonal treatments for the production of callus and somatic embryogenesis were applied. To optimize the growth culture for conversion of somatic embryos to seedlings MS medium supplemented with 17 different hormonal treatments were used. Experiment was conducted in completely randomized design factorial layout based on multi-observations and 4 replications. Hypocotyl identified as the best explant for somatic embryogenesis. Hormonal treatment of 0.5 mg/l Kin + 1 mg/l NAA and 1 mg/l NAA revealed the highest efficiency for callus formation while medium containing 0.2 mg/l 2ip + 0.01 mg/l IBA + 1/2 MS showed the highest regeneration amount of somatic embryos. Produced embryos in MS medium containing auxin IBA and Cytokinin 2ip showed the normal growth. Due to problems in the caraway seed germination, production of artificial seeds is very important. Considering the successful production of somatic embryos in this research, synthetic seed production of black cumin can be followed in future.