Micropropagation of Narcissus tazetta ‘Chinensis’ and Its Relation to Secondary Metabolites Content: Brief Overview

In this study, bulbs of Narcissus tazetta ‘Chinensis’ were used as explants for micropropagation.
Several disinfection protocols, callus medium and regeneration medium were tested in addition to the
secondary metabolites content analysis. Four disinfection protocols were used. The most successful
was: 1) disinfection of bulbs in 70% ethanol and 2% HgCl2, 10 minutes for each, outside cabinet, or 2)
70% ethyl alcohol (4 min), 20% clorox (5 min), 0.1% mercuric chloride (1 min) and 9% hydrogen
peroxide (1 min) inside cabinet, washing with sterilized distilled water after every previous step. This
technique is considered as a novel effective procedure. Indirect micropropagation on MS medium
supplemented with 2 mg·L-1 2,4-D succeeded in narcissus callus induction which regenerated into
shoots on MS medium supplemented with 1 mg.L-1 IBA + 1mg.L-1 TIBA + 1 gm.L-1 of activated
charcoal. The same medium with activated charcoal sowed high yield in a direct micropropagation
protocol. Average shoot and root per explant showed significant increase when using indirect
micropropagation. Secondary metabolites from direct and indirect regeneration, using phytochemical
screening detected increasing alkaloids content in callus only, while regenerated plantlets were the
same as mother plants, as well as there were no significant changes in mother and regenerated
plants in terms of total phenol and flavonoids content.