Successful micropropagation of critically endangered Thymus bovei Benth : a wild medicinal plant strictly endemic to the Jordanian environment

Alkhawaldah, Refad Y. (author), Shibli, Rida A. (author), Tahtamouni, Reham W. (author), Shatnawi, Mohamad A. (author), Al-Qudah, Tamadour (author), Al-Qudah, Tamara S. (author)

Thymus bovei Benth. (Lamiaceae), locally referred to as Zateer Barry, is a critically endangered native plant species in Jordan (Taifour and EL-Oqlah, 2014), renowned for its exceptional medicinal properties. This study aims to establish a reliable micropropagation technique to prevent T. boveifrom extinction. The research focused on explant establishment, shoot multiplication, rooting, callus induction, and acclimatization of T. bovei. Explants were established in a half-strength Murashige and Skoog (MS) media supplemented with different concentrations of gibberellic acid (GA3). Successful shoot multiplication was achieved by subculturing nodal segments onto half-strength MS medium supplemented with kinetin (KIN), thidiazuron (TDZ), or benzylaminopurine (BA). Among the treatments, the most effective medium for shoot multiplication was supplemented with 2.5 mg l-1 KIN and 0.5 mg l-1 GA₃, which resulted in an average of 7.50 ± 0.54 micro-shoots per explant and a shoot length of 2.33 ± 0.18 cm. Rooting was most effective on half-strength MS media with 1.0 mg l-1 indole-3-butyric acid (IBA), yielding an average of 5.29 roots per microshoot. The highest callus development, measured by fresh mass (0.601 g), occurred in half-strength MS media with 2.0 mg l-1 2,4-D, while no callus formed with naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA). Acclimatized plants showed a 90 % survival rate when transferred to greenhouse conditions.

• Language: English
• Keywords: endangered plant, Jordan, medicinal plant, micropropagation, tissue culture, Thymus bovei
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: BF - Biotechnical Faculty
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2025
• Number of pages: 11 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 121, no. 3
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-175182
• UDC: 63
• ISSN on article: 1854-1941
• DOI: 10.14720/aas.2025.121.3.18920
• COBISS.SI-ID: 253923843
• Publication date in RUL: 20.10.2025

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Acta agriculturae Slovenica
• Publisher: Biotehniška fakulteta, Oddelek za agronomijo in Oddelek za zootehniko, Biotehniška fakulteta, Oddelek za agronomijo in Oddelek za zootehniko, Univerza v Ljubljani, Biotehniška fakulteta, Založba Univerze v Ljubljani
• ISSN: 1854-1941
• COBISS.SI-ID: 219581184

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Uspešna razmnožitev kritično ogrožene vrste materine dušice (Thymus bovei Benth), samonikle zdravilne rastline iz Jordanije
• Keywords: ogrožene rastline, Jordanija, zdravilne rastline, mikropropagacija, tkivne kulture, Thymus bovei