In vitro study of macro and micro nutrients decline in MS medium on growth and development levels of Acacia tortilis (Forssk.) Hayne.

Acacia tortilis is one of the valuable species growing in the southern regions of Iran, which is highly considerable for a variety of reasons such as stabilization of quicksand, medicinal uses and ecological functions. Low germination capacity of seeds, hard rooting of cuttings, the value of aesthetics and multiple medicinal uses highlight the importance of further research to explore methods for easy and efficient propagation of this species in vitro. However, seeds of A. tortilis were obtained from Khazar Center of Forest seeds located in Koloudeh, Mazandaran Province, Iran and a hot water treatment for 15 seconds was used for seed dormancy breakage. Then, seeds were cultured aseptically in MS basal medium without growth regulators. In this work, to investigate the reaction of seeds to different variables in culture medium, various concentrations of macro and micro nutrients (0, 1, 1/2, 1/4) were studied. Briefly, total treatments (T) were 10 and each treatment was replicated 3 times, with 10 members. Finally, ANOVA and Duncan tests were used to analyze data. Results showed that the best method for seed sterilization was obtained though using HgCl2 (0.5%) for 10 minutes and ethanol (70%) for one minute. In addition, results showed that the highest root and stem length, fresh and dry weight of stem and root belonged to T2 (macro elements + 1/4 micro elements), while T4 (macro elements + micro elements) was in the second order and the lowest values of the abovementioned parameters were found in T8.