Farah Khan and Aqsa Hanif
Different explants of Lycopersicon esculentum L. var. Roma were cultured on MS basal medium supplemented with different concentrations of plant growth regulators (PGRs) i.e. BAP, 2,4-D and NAA. Best callogenesis (90%) and regeneration (56%) were recorded for leaf explants with 2.5 mg/l of 2,4-D on MS basal medium. GC-MS detected fifty-four bioactive compounds during in vitro growth of tomato. When compared with the secondary metabolites, detected from field grown tomato plants, it was found that the regenerated plantlets showed much elevated quantity of bioactive compounds. In the field grown tomato plants, only nine secondary metabolites were detected. The results clearly indicated that the production of different metabolites can be either increased or decreased by altering the quality and quantity of plant growth regulators (PGRs) during in vitro growth of tomato.
