Enhanced Production of Psoralen through Elicitors Treatment in Adventitious Root Culture of Psoralea Corylifolia L

Objective: The present study aimed to determine the effect of two elicitors namely Methyl Jasmonate (MeJ) and Salicylic acid (SA) on adventitious root production of Psoralea corylifolia L. as the elicitors and at different concentrations. Methods: Adventitious roots of P. corylifolia L. were treated with different concentration of elicitors such as MeJ (10, 20, 30 and 40 μM/l) and SA (50, 100, 150 and 200 μM/l) to enhance the psoralen contents. After the treatment, psoralen content was analyzed through the analytical HPLC experiments (Methanol: Water (50:50) at 0.8 ml/min-1 flow rate and the injection volume as 20 μl). Results: MeJ and SA treatments at the concentrations of 30 μM/l and 150 μM/l respectively were found to increase the net wet weight of adventitious root production to 8 fold at 8 hours of elicitor treatment periods. Further, the quantity of psoralen was determined from the elicitors (MeJ and SA) treated roots and mother plant through the analytical HPLC experiments in order to estimate the psoralen content and it was found as 3.73 mg/ml, 0.015 mg/ml and 0.56 mg/ml respectively. Conclusion: In the present study we achieved enhanced production of psoralen through abiotic elicitors (MeJ and SA) treatment and concluded that the MeJ at 30 μM/l concentration shows significant enhancement of psoralen production.