Effect of BA and 2,4 – D on growth of nodes of Melissa officinalis L. in vitro

Melissa officinalis L. has been used for in vitro culture to study the effect of ethanol,sodium hypochlorite and Mercury Chloride ( with different concentrations ) on the viability of explant , controlling contamination and effect of addition 10 -3 , 10-5 , 10-7 molar BA and 2,4 D to MS medium , each was added to the culture medium alone or with interaction between them. The results showed that using Mercury Chloride as sterilant at 0.025 g/100ml for 1.5 min was the most effective , also the results showed that addition of BA and 2,4 D to MS medium at different concentrations , affect variably the response of explants to initiate callus or to regenerate shoots , which was noticed at 25 and 50 days after culture . It was shown that 10-3 and 10 -5 Molar of both BA and 2,4D causes death of explants after 25 days of culture . Addition of 10 -7 Molar of 2,4D to the culture medium alone or with 10-7 Molar BA was effective in stimulating the explants to regenerate shoots with wellgrown leaves , shoots reached to 3.7 and 3.9 cm respectively represented by the mean of length, number of leaves grown were 9.0 on both treatments , It was observed that explants grown on medium with 10-7 and 10-5 Molar of 2,4 D and BA respectively were able to regenerate few roots after 50 days of culture . The optimum treatment for callus production was 10-5 Molar of 2,4 D .