Assessing The Effect of Naphthalene Acetic Acid and 6-Benzylaminopurine on In Vitro Micropropagation of Potato ( Solanum tuberosum L.) and Estimation of Secondary Metabolites in In Vitro Micropropagated Shoots

The effect of Naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) and 6-Benzylaminopurine (BAP) was investigated on in vitro micropropagation of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) and secondary metabolites of in vitro micropropagated shoots were also estimated. Eight micropropagation media containing different level of NAA and BAP were studied and the effect of NAA and BAP on in vitro micropropagated shoots was assessed. However, in this research study, medium MPm 7 having 2.75 mg/l BAP was proved to be best for giving maximum number of shoots per explant in both genotypes to be studied. The genotype, PRI-Red yielded maximum number of shoots on this medium thus these in vitro micropropagated shoots were subjected to phytochemical analyses and were compared with shoots of intact plant (field grown) for secondary metabolites viz., alkaloids, flavonide and total polyphenolic contents. In phytochemical analyses, no alkaloids were not detected in both in vitro micropropagated shoots and shoots of intact plant while both plants showed positive test for presence of polyphenolics. Shoots of intact plant contained higher amount of total polyphenolics (3.7 GAE mg/g fresh wt.) as compared to in vitro micropropagated shoots (2.8 GAE mg/g fresh wt.). However, slightly higher amount of flavonide were detected in in vitro micropropagated shoots (1.8 mg/g) than shoots of intact plant (1.6 mg/g).