In vitro propagation and characterization of phenolic content along with antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of Cichorium pumilum Jacq.

Cichorium pumilum, a member of Asteraceae, is widely used as a traditional medicinal herb. An efficient protocol for callus formation and whole plant propagation has been developed. Callus cultures were induced from leaf explants on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with 1.5 mg l(-1) 6-Benzyladenine (BA) and 0.5 mg l(-1) Naphthalene acetic acid (NAA). Maximum numbers of shoots were obtained from calli transferred to shoot regeneration medium containing MS basal medium with 1.5 mg l(-1) BA or Kinetin (Kin). The shoots were effectively rooted on MS medium supplemented with different concentrations of Indole-3-butyric acid. In the present study, the antibacterial activity of C. pumilum extracts was assayed in vitro by agar disc diffusion and agar well diffusion methods against 10 different bacterial species. The results showed effect on the growth of 50 and 70% of the tested bacterial species using methanol and ethanol extracts respectively. Klebsiella pneumoniae was susceptible to the ethanolic and methanolic extracts of wild plants and in vitro tissues, whereas Enterococcus faecalis was resistant to all the extracts. This study verified that the methanol extracts have strong antioxidant activities with high levels of phenolic compounds. The antioxidant activity and total phenol content of callus cultures and in vitro plantlets were lower than those of the wild plants. The results obtained confirm the therapeutic potency of Cichorium used in the traditional medicine, in addition, the efficient in vitro production system developed in this study provide sterile and consistent tissues for the investigation of phytochemical and pharmacological effects and germplasm conservation of C. pumilum.