Jasmonic Acid: Enhancing SPF Potential in Butea monosperma Floral Variants Callus Cultures

Butea monosperma (Lam.) Taub. or "Flame of the forest" (Fabaceae) is famous for its bright scarlet flowers. A rare variant – Butea monosperma var lutea, with chrome yellow flowers has been sighted in various locations in the country. The current study explored the differences between the two varieties of Butea monosperma (Lam.) Taub in terms of callus growth (monitored for 60 days) evaluated for total phenolic and flavonoid content, SPF and the effect of jasmonic acid on these parameters. A good correlation of 0.73 between SPF and TFC was obtained with the application of jasmonic acid. Assessment of phytochemical composition of callus from both varieties revealed the presence of different isoflavones, flavones, flavanones, chalcones classes of flavonoids that could possibly be responsible for good SPF. The growth index was the highest for the red variety in media without the elicitor, contrary to the results of the yellow variety, where 1 µM JA was found to increase the growth index. Differences were also noticed in the total phenolic content (173.84 mg GAE/g and 165.65 mg GAE/g) total flavonoid content (10.50 mg QE/g and 6.31 mg QE/g) and Sun Protection Factor (19 and 14.5) between the red and yellow variant callus respectively.