Somatic Embryogenesis in Phoenix dactylifera L: Effect of Exogenous Supply of Sucrose on Proteins, Sugars, Phenolics and Peroxidases Activities During the Embryogenic Cell Suspension Culture

The present study was conducted to determine the effect of three concentrations of usually used (1.5, 3 and 6%) of sucrose on the proliferation of date palm cell suspension culture. The medium containing 3% sucrose, leads to best results than 1.5 and 6% sucrose especially for JHL cultivar. In fact, when sucrose concentration increased from 1.5 to 3%, the embryogenic mass significantly increased from 2.15 to 14.6 g per flask and 8.7 to 10 g per flask, respectively for JHL and BSTN cultivars. The biochemical analysis showed that the maturation medium with 3% sucrose significantly increased the proteins (14.9 mg g-1 FW for JHL cultivar and 5 mg g-1 FW for BSTN cultivar) and sugars contents (22.5 and 22.7 mg g-1 FW, respectively, for JHL and BSTN cultivars) in the embryogenic mass. In addition, as compared to 1.5 and 6%, the use of 3% sucrose enhanced phenolics contents (0.69 mg g-1FW) and peroxidases activities (2.9.103 n Kat g-1FW) in BSTN cultivar.