Effect of Amino Acids on the Growth and Production of Steroids in Date Palm Using Tissue Culture Technique

Abstract

The present investigation studied the effect of amino acids (Glutamine, Spermidine and Asparagine) with different concentration (50, 250.500 mg/l) used as precursors to produce secondary metabolites (steroids) and growth development during different stages (callus, embryoids and shooting) of date palm (Malakaby cv.). In Embryogenic callus stage,callus volume was the highest (4.00) when treated with any of the three amino acids, 50 mg/l of Glutamine or Asparagine showed no effect compared to the control giving the lowest callus volume (3.00). Total steroids in callus tissues clearly showed that using Glutamine 250 mg/l in medium gave the highest steroid content 0.662 mg/g and percentage (336% of control), while the lowest (0.111mg/g) was found with Asparagine (500mg/l) and 56.35% of control. Glutamine at 250 mg/l resulted in the highest weight of embryos (2.100 gm). As well as, 500 mg/l Spermidine seemed to be the best amino acid used in order to stimulate steroid biosynthesis resulting in 202.1% of control (0.782 mg/g). In shooting stage, according to the number of shoots, the highest number of shoots (2.33) was achieved with Glutamine and Spermidine at 500 mg/l. In shoot weight, the highest weight (7.267 gm) was achieved by using 500mg/l Glutamine , as to steroid biosynthesis in shooting stage, the best result obtained, were by using Glutamine at 500 mg/l which gave highest steroid biosynthesis (0.534mg/g), 206.0% of contro