Conservation of an endangered medicinal plant Taxus baccata through air layering; A method of rapid multiplication

Abstract

Taxus baccata is categorized as a highly medicinal but endangered species, due to production of several economically important metabolites. Taxus baccata, a high altitude medicinal plants attract attention recently because its bark and leaves contain an alkaloid, which is the primary origin of Taxol, a vigorous anti-cancer drug. The formation of adventitious roots during air layering can be induced by various root promoting treatments and hormones which increase the root length and shoot development. Two plant growth hormones Indole-3-Butyric Acid and Napthelic Acetic Acid (IBA and NAA) with different concentration have been used for air layering on Taxus baccata. Each treatment was applied to 20 layers in replicates of 4. All the layers were carried out under uniform cultural practice during the entire period of examination. The experiments were conducted at village Ravigram, Joshimath, Chamoli (Uttarakhand) India. The stem layers pre-treatment with IBA 1000 ppm was observed most suitable condition for plant multiplication and regeneration in comparison to NAA. Effect of layering time and different concentration of growth regulators shows variation in formation of roots and callus. So 80.833% survivability was achieved with 1000 ppm of IBA and all other best results were obtained with this concentration followed by 750 ppm NAA.