Chicory (Cichorium intybus L.) belongs to Asteraceae family is commonly known as witloof chicory. The leaves and the roots of this medicinal plant are edible and commonly used as salad. Some varieties are also cultivated as coffee substitute after roasting the roots. All parts of the plant contain these volatile oils, with the majority of the toxic components concentrated in the plant's root. In folk medicine, the plant is used for the treatment of diarrhea, spleen enlargement, fever, and

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... ng. Antihepatotoxic activity on damaged rat's liver sections and anti-bacterial activity of this crop has been recently reported. In vitro regeneration from leaf explants with various hormonal combinations has been reported previously. Moreover, in vitro regeneration of Chicory from cotyledon explants using different combinations of plant growth regulators has been studied. Also, a protocol for the regeneration of plantlets from leaf and petiole explants of witloof chicory has been developed. The aim of the present investigation was optimization of callus induction and shoot regeneration from leaf and petiole tissues of Chicory (Esfahan genotype). Materials and Methods: In this investigation, Esfahan genotype was used for callus induction and direct shoot regeneration. Seeds were first washed with running tap water for 30 min then seeds were surface sterilized by dipping in 70% ethanol for 90 s and rinsed with sterile distilled water, followed by immersing in 5% sodium hypochlorite solution for 25 min and thereafter rinsed for 30 min with sterile distilled water. The basal medium used in this investigation was MS. For shoot regeneration, leaf and petiole explants (5 mm segments) were excised from 4-week-old sterile seedlings and cultured on MS medium containing different combinations of NAA / BA and KIN / BA in two separate experiments. Experiments were performed factorial based on completely randomized design. Cultures were incubated at 25° C ± 2 with a 16/8 hour (day/night) photoperiod and an irradiance of [...]