Abstract
Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) is a member of Iridaceae and is one of the most valuable spices in the world.The crop do not form seeds and reproduce by the budding of the existing corms. The corms are vulnerable to many pathogens and in order to produce healthy, disease free plants, pathogen free planting material is of great importance for successful cultivation of saffron. We compared the 2 methods for production of callus and suspension culture on MS media. We observed that the solid MS media containing the hormones with concentration of 1.5mg/L 2,4-D, 1.5mg/L 6-BAP and 0.5mg/L NAA produced high quality callus in 45-60 days. The liquid MS media containing the same composition of the hormones showed decent growth of cells in 14 days. This method can be employed to produce high quality callus and suspension culture for developing somatic embryos or study the gene expression of apocarotenoid genes and floral development genes in the cells and callus. The suspension culture can also provide starting material for induction of mutation in the saffron.
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