Effect of different growing media on growth and development of rooted cuttings of Indian sarsaparilla (Hemidesmus indicus L.)

Abstract

Indian sarsaparilla (Hemidesmus indicus L.) is an important medicinal plant widely used in Indian systems of medicine as an antipyretic, blood purifier and refrigerant. It is under the list of endangered species in India due to the indiscriminate collection and utilization. To bring the plant under commercial cultivation, standardization of growing medium for rooted cuttings in Indian sarsaparilla was done at Department of Medicinal and Aromatic Crops, Horticultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore. The rooted cuttings under mist chamber were transferred to PVC pipes measuring 5 feet length and 2 ½ inch diameter kept under open condition. The media like coir pith compost, vermicompost and red soil: sand: FYM (2: 1: 1) mixture and their combinations were used. Observations on root length, number of roots, fresh weight of the root, dry weight of the root, shoot length, number of laterals, number of leaves per plant, fresh weight of shoot and dry weight of shoot were recorded after 60 days of planting. Among the five treatments, growing medium M1 (coir pith compost) recorded longest root length (76.63 cm), more number of roots (67.25), maximum fresh weight of the roots (9.38 g), maximum dry weight of roots (1.73 g), highest shoot length (34.28 cm), more number of laterals (3.25), more number of leaves (42.25), maximum fresh weight of shoot (5.23 g) and maximum dry weight of shoots (1.25 g). Hence, from this study we can conclude that, use of coir pith compost medium provides good ancourage and high root yield to the Hemidesmus plants and thus can be utilized for commercial cultivation of the plants.