Phytochemical Variations in Lemon Verbena (Lippia citriodora H.B.K.) Plantlets Affected by Propagation Methods and Soil Type

Background: lemon verbena (lippia citriodora h.b.k.) is an aromatic and medicinal plant of family verbenaceae, which cultivated in north region of iran.objective: evaluation of phytochemical characters in lippia citriodora h.b.k. plantlets affected by propagation methods (micro-propagation and stem cutting) cultivated in different soil type (peat moss and mixture soil).methods: this study was done on the base of factorial experiment in randomized complete block design with three replications and four treatments. the treatments were propagation methods (micro-propagation and stem cutting) and soil type (peat moss and mixture soil). the volatile oil was extracted by hydro-distillation using clevenger-type apparatus and analyzed by gc and gc/ms. results: the results indicated that the interaction effects of different soils and plantlets types had significant effect (p < 0.05) on all studied parameters. the highest content of essential oil (0.79%), geranial (53.52%), neral (31.82%), limonene (11.29%), leaf dry weight (1.43 g) and spad value (20.85) were observed in treatment of mpp (micro-propagation plantlets cultivated in peat moss) and the lowest of that was obtained in treatment of scm (stem cutting plantlets cultivated in mixture soil). conclusion: the peat moss was the best bed in respect of phytochemicals and morpho-physiological traits in both types of in vitro and stem cutting propagation. the highest essential oil content was observed in treatment of micro-propagation cultivated in peat moss.