Improvement of germination rate and in vitro multiplication of Lavandula angustifolia

Lavender is well-known for its essential oils, which are in high demand and have a very important economicinterest, particularly for the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. This work had been done to study seedgermination and in vitro culture of Lavandula angustifolia. The seeds of L. angustifolia had undergonea vernalization followed by two treatments (physical and chemical), in order to increase the percentage ofgermination. Seeds were introduced into tubes containing the culture medium Murashige et Skoog (MS).Untreated seeds were germinated in the same medium supplemented with gibberellic acid at differentconcentrations. The kinetics, the speed, and the final germination rate were retained in order to evaluate theresponse of seeds. The micropropagation of L. angustifolia was performed on MS medium supplemented withdifferent concentrations of 6-Benzylaminopurine (Treatment I) and 6-Benzylaminopurine in combination withNaphthalene Acetic Acid (Treatment II). Multiplication rate, shoots number, nodes number, leaves number, andstem length were determined. Lavandula angustifolia seeds revealed very low germination percentages for allthe treatments used. However, those treated with sand (physical treatment) showed the highest percentage ofgermination (22%) followed by sulfuric acid treatment with a percentage of 14%. Results showed that the 11.11μM concentration of 6-Benzylaminopurine favored the maximum reactivity of the explants. The combinationbetween 6-Benzylaminopurine and Naphthalene Acetic Acid showed that MS supplemented with 8.88 μM6-Benzylaminopurine and 2.68 μM Naphthalene Acetic Acid was the most effective in the development ofvitroplants.