Comparing the Effects of Benzyladenine and meta-Topolin on Sweet Basil (Ocimum basilicum) Micropropagation

Micropropagation of aromatic plants reveals an effective way of obtaining high volume, virus-free plant material of uniform quality. The application of meta-Topolin (mT) (N6-(2-hydroxybenzyl) adenine-9-riboside) and aromatic cytokinin as Benzyladenine (BAP) in the micro propagation of sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) was tested for the first time and plant growth parameters assessed to determine the optimum level of these cytokinins. Additionally, the rate of root-growth inhibition due to these two cytokinins was also assessed. Our results show that 1 mg/l (4.43 mM) BAP and 0.5 mg/l (2.07 mM)mT produced the most favourable effects on new shoot developments. Meta-Topolin was shown to increase the quality of the plants and in comparison with BAP fewer distortions were observed. No significant differences in root-growth inhibition between the mT and BAP were detected.