2015, Vol. 3, Issue 3, Part A

author(s)
Joanna Ciura, Magdalena Szeliga, Mirosław Tyrka

abstract
Fenugreek as a spice, vegetable and medicinal plant has valuable nutritional properties and is important for diversification of human diet. The most important medicinal properties of this herb are related with the content of diosgenin. Selection of media for optimal and stable production of diosgenin level in plants grown in vitro is prerequisite for understanding the biochemical pathway of diosgenin biosynthesis. Changes of concentration of this secondary metabolite in various plant organs during growth are also critical for sampling and isolation procedure. We found that, the concentration of diosgenin depends on the day of harvest, type of medium and plant organ. The highest content of diosgenin in leaves occurs between 21st and 38th day of growth. These results suggest a positive influence of carbohydrates on the efficiency of diosgenin synthesis. The highest content of diosgenin was produced by leaves when compared to stems, roots and callus culture.