Introducing some of threatened thymus species to in Vitro tissue culturing as an approach for their conservation

Thymes are considered the most popular herbs in palestine due to their considerable medicinal and nutritional values. however,at the same time they are also threatened or endangered due to intensive harvesting. five of the most important thyme species grown naturally in palestine (wild-types) were collected and their responses to artificial media supplemented with various plant growth regulators had been tested. the results revealed the effectiveness in using the artificial media (ms) with hormonal combinations to regenerate thymes from all five species. the study revealed that callus was induced better with ms media maintained 2mg/l 2,4-d and 0.2 mg/l for all thymes species. meanwhile media with 1mg/l kinetin and 0.3 mg/l gibberellic acid were found optimum for shoot proliferation. the best shoot proliferation was recorded for thymus incanus (96%). developed shoots were easily rooted on media contained 0.01mg/l 2,4 d. moreover,organogenesis of thyme plant derived from callus was successfully generated on ms media contained 2mg/l of each naa and kinetin hormones (1:1 ratio),suggesting additional possibilities of ex-situ conservation of these wild herbs. this study was the first to establish a rapid and reliable protocol for micropropagation of wild palestinian thymes; proposing as well the potential of using this biotechnology in rescuing wild thymus species. © 2017,pakistan botanical society. all rights reserved.