Abstract
Application of nanoparticles in plant tissue culture have been reported to improve growth and multiplication as well as alter compositions of bioactive compounds of different plant species. Lavender (
Lavandula officinalis)
is a medicinal plant, which produces essential oil and plant extracts that are rich in beta-linalool, cineol, camphor and many other bioactive compounds. Collectively, these compounds have contributed to its pain relieving, antimicrobial and wound healing activities. In this study, silicon dioxides nanoparticles or silver nanoparticles were incorporated into the growth media for
Lavandula officinalis
to investigate the effects of these nanomaterials on the growth, multiplication, photosynthetic pigments content, ultrastructure morphology, and genetic variation of the plantlets. In addition, the possible changes of phytochemicals composition and antimicrobial activities of the ethanolic extracts prepared from the plantlets were investigated. The incorporation of 50 mg/L Si-NPs highly enhanced multiplication of the explants, while 20 mg/L Ag-NPs resulted in small enhancement effects in multiplication and growth of the plantlets. The presence of nanoparticles in the growth media has altered the phytochemical compositions of the ethanolic extracts prepared from the
L. officinalis
plantlets, and these compositions differences have resulted in the differential antimicrobial activities of these extracts against
Escherichia coli
, methicillin resistance
Staphylococcus aureus
and
Streptococcus pneumoniae
. For
E. coli
and
S. aureus
, extract from plantlets grown in the presence of 100 mg/L Si-NPs exhibited the highest antimicrobial activity, while for
S. pneumoniae
, highest activity was observed with extract from plantlets grown without nanoparticles.
Key Message
Silicon dioxides or silver nanoparticles induces soma-clonal variation in lavender plantlets, while enhancing their growth and multiplications, and altered the chemical and biological activities of the plant extracts.