IN VITRO PROPAGATION OF ALGERIAN LAVANDULA STOECHAS AND ASSESSMENT OF BIOCHEMICAL COMPOSITION AND THEIR ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY

Abstract

The present research aimed to investigate the effect of plant growth regulators (PGRs) on the in vitro proliferation of Lavandula stoechas shoots and assessment of the antioxidant potential and total phenolic content of extracts obtained from in vitro cultures and wild plants of L. stoechas, as well as, the chemical analysis of the phenolic content of both extracts carried out using HPLC-DAD. The optimal shoot proliferation and biomass accumulation were achieved with the combination of 0.5 mg/l 6-benzyladenine (BA) and 0.5 mg/l gibberellic acid (GA3). The hydroalcoholic extract obtained from in vitro cultures contained the highest amount of phenolic compounds (83.18 mg GAE/g DW extract) compared to the total phenolic content of wild plants extract (32.33 mg GAE/g DW extract). Furthermore, the hydroalcoholic extract from in vitro cultures exhibited a higher antiradical effect against 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) with IC50 value of 51.38 ± 0.7μg/ml and higher antioxidant capacity (757.26 mg GAE/g DW) observed by total antioxidant capacity (TAC) assay. The chemical profile of both extracts revealed the presence of naringenin, acacetin, rhamnetin, luteolin 3'- 7 diglucoside, and hesperetin. Overall, the results suggest that in vitro cultures of L. stoechas could serve as a potential source for producing active metabolites with high antioxidant properties.