Origanum acutidens (HAND.-MAZZ.) IETSWAART is a promising ornamental plant that can be widely used in landscape management. It is endemic to Eastern Anatolian region of Turkey. Tissue culture has not been used to micropropagate it. The study reports stem node explants from one-week-old seedlings of the plant for successful micropropagation. The stem nodes were cultured on MS medium containing 0.6, 1.2, 1.8, and 2.4 mg/L BAP with 0.2 mg/L NAA. Visible effects of culture media on shoot proliferation were recorded. Shoot regeneration rate was maximum on MS medium containing 1.80 mg/L BAP-0.2 mg/L NAA. The micropropagated shoots were rooted on MS medium containing 0.2 mg/L NAA. All microrooted plantlets survived during acclimatisation on peat moss. It was concluded that O. acutidens can be successfully micropropagated under in vitro conditions.

Lallemantia iberica (Bieb.) Fisch. and C. A. Mey is high valued annual ornamental and medicinal plant from Lamiaceae family that prefers dry sunny hillsides, roadsides, slopes, and fallow fields over an altitude of 500–2150 m. It bears beautiful white flowers and bloom from April to June each year. This study reports L. iberica micropropagation using cotyledon node explants isolated from 15-day-old in vitro regenerated plantlets. The cotyledon node explants were cultured on MS medium containing 0.50, 1.00 plus 2.00 mg/L BAP, 0.00, 0.01, and 0.02 mg/L NAA. Maximum shoot regeneration was noted on MS medium containing 0.50 mg/L BAP. Well-developed micropropagated shoots were rooted on MS medium containing 1.00 mg/L IBA. The rooted plants were easily hardened in the growth chamber and acclimatised in greenhouse.

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Iris species have great economic importance for their use in ornamental and pharmaceutical industry. Flora of Turkey reports about 43 local taxons of which 16 are endemic. Iris suaveolens Boiss. et Reuter is an endemic species with high seed dormancy and has high tolerance to cold and drought. This study focused on seed dormancy break of I. suaveolens under in vitro conditions. In the first experiment, the seeds were given stratification treatment on MS medium containing different concentrations of BAP with or without NAA. The 2nd experiment reports effects of alternative combinations of cold (at 4°C, 24 h dark) – warm (16 h light photoperiod) conditions on medium containing different concentrations of plant growth regulators on agar solidified MS medium. Both experiments showed about 8.33% seed germination against 64.5% seed viability as confirmed by tetrazolium test. All germinating seeds were abnormal and very weak. In the third experiment, 10 minutes acid scarified seeds cultured at 24°C in 16 h light photo period on MS medium achieved 60.0% germination. Similar treatment under cold + dark condition was inhibitory and failed to show identical results. This underlines the importance of acid scarification, photoperiod and warm treatments of I. suaveolens seeds to break seed dormancy. All germinated seeds showed normal growth and development under field conditions.

Fertilizers have become a necessity in plant production to fulfill the rapid rise in population and, as a result, the increased nutritional needs. However, the unintended and excessive use of chemical fertilizers causes many problems and has a negative impact on agricultural production in many countries today. The inability to determine the amount, types, and application periods of the applied fertilizers adversely affects the natural environment, resulting in global warming and climate change, as well as the occurrence of additional abiotic stressors that have an impact on agricultural productivity. Hence, alternatives to chemical fertilizers and pesticides, such as the use of biofertilizers, must be explored for the betterment of agricultural production in a manner that does not jeopardize the ecological balance. Bacteria residing in the plant’s rhizosphere can help with plant development, disease management, harmful chemical removal, and nutrient absorption. Introducing such phytomicrobiome into the agricultural industry is an effective approach as a result of its long-term and environmentally favorable mechanisms to preserve plant health and quality. Hence, this chapter aims at highlighting the deleterious effects of chemical fertilizers and providing a striking demonstration of how effectively plant-growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) can be used to increase the agriculture production in the context of climate change.

Cytokinins and auxins were studied in Lens culinaris before; however, there was lack of information about their effects on vascular tissues and their relation with plant development. In this study, intact lentil seedlings were treated with different doses of BAP (1 mg/L) and NAA (0.3, 0.6, 0.9, 1.2 mg/L) with periodic intervals of 7, 14, 21, 28, and 35 days under in vitro conditions. The behaviors of plant height, number of shoots per plant, and rooting were investigated to find if their regeneration behavior is related with the developmental behavior of phloem and xylem thickness and stem radius. In most instances, seven-day culture conditions in all plant growth regulators (PGRs) doses demonstrated the best results. BAP and NAA treatments with high doses on prolonged days of culture caused unhealthy growing on plant development and vascular tissues. While phloem region thickness was the highest in control group, xylem region was found to have the highest thickness in 1 mg/L BAP treatment used singly. Moreover, high doses of BAP and NAA caused deformity and shrinking in phloem and xylem regions that also lead to shrinking in stem radius. These results reveal negative effects of BAP and NAA treatments on prolonged days of culture and conclude that the time period of treatment must be optimized precisely to avoid damages to vascular and other tissues and promote desirable growth and development of tissues.