Improvement of German Chamomile (Matricaria recutita L.) for Mechanical Harvesting, High Flower Yield and Essential Oil Content Using Physical and Chemical Mutagenesis

Abstract

Chamomile (Matricariarecutita L.) is one of the most important medicinal plants with various applications. The flowers and flower heads are the main organs inthe production of essential oil. The essential improvement goals of chamomile are considered to be high flower yield and oil content, as well asthe suitability for mechanical harvesting. The present study aimed to improve the flower yield, oil content and mechanical harvestability of German chamomile via chemical and physical mutagens. Three German chamomile populations (Fayum, Benysuif and Menia) were irradiated with 100, 200, 300 and 400 Gray doses of gamma rays, as well as chemically mutagenized using 0.001, 0.002 and 0.003 mol/mL of sodium azide for 4 h. The two mutagens produced a wide range of changes in the flowers’ shape and size. At M3 generation, 18 mutants (11 from gamma irradiation and 7 from sodium azide mutagenization) were selected and morphologically characterized. Five out of eighteen mutants were selected for morphological and chemical characterization for oil content, oil composition and oil quality in M4 generation. Two promising mutants, F/LF5-2-1 and B/HNOF 8-4-2, were selected based on their performance in most studied traits during three generations, as well as the high percentage of cut efficiency and a homogenous flower horizon, which qualify them as suitable candidates for mechanical harvesting. The two mutants are late flowering elite mutants; the F/LF5-2-1 mutant possessed the highest oil content (1.77%) and number of flowers/plant (1595), while the second promising B/HNOF 8-4-2 mutant hada high oil content (1.29%) and chamazulene percentage (13.98%) compared to control plants. These results suggest that the B/HNOF 8-4-2 and F/LF5-2-1 mutants could be integrated as potential parents into breeding programs for a high number of flowers, high oil content, oil composition and oil color traits for German chamomile improvement.

In Vitro Propagation of Three Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) Varieties Using Immature Female Inflorescences

“…The improvement of date palm production not only depends on the in vitro propagation techniques but also the use of chemical and physical mutagens [ 33 ], the recent genetic approaches [ 34 , 35 ], phylogeny analysis [ 36 ], and molecular markers [ 37 , 38 ].…”

Micropropagation of Daylily (Hemerocallis fulva) from Crown-Tip Explants and Assessment of Somaclonal Variation of in Vitro-Propagated Plants Using SCoT Markers

“…The current study may support the genetic improvement of daylily plants as ornamental and medicinal plants by producing new somaclonal variants through a tissue culture approach. In the same context, genetic improvement may be conducted through traditional breeding [53], mutation breeding [54], using genetic engineering [55], genome editing [10,11], molecular markers and phylogeny [56,57], and in silico analysis [58].…”

Propagation of Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) Cultivar Jawzi Using Shoot Tip

“…The plantlets with established roots were delicately retrieved from the tubes, followed by a thorough rinse under flowing water and treatment with a Rezolex fungicide (100 g) solution (Generic) for a duration of 10 minutes. Subsequently, these plantlets were carefully placed into pots containing a mixture of peat and perlite in a 2:1 v/v ratio (Rohim et al, 2021), Enhancing date palm production relies not exclusively on in vitro propagation methods, but also on the application of chemical and physical mutagens (Ghareeb et al, 2022), modern genetic strategies and phylogenetic analysis (Raza et al, 2022) and molecular markers .…”