Factors influencing rapid clonal propagation of Chlorophytum arundinaceum (Liliales: Liliaceae), an endangered medicinal plant

Sanghamitra Samantaray,Satyabrata Maiti

doi:10.15517/rbt.v59i1.3210

Abstract

Chlorophytum arundinaceum is an important medicinal plant and its tuberous roots are used for various health ailment treatments. It has become an endangered species in the Eastern Ghats, and a rare medicinal herb in India, due to its excessive collection from its natural habitat and its destructive harvesting techniques, coupled with poor seed germination and low vegetative multiplication ratio. In order to contribute to its production systems, an efficient protocol was developed for in vitro clonal propagation through shoot bud culture. For this, multiple shoots were induced from shoot bud explants on Murashige and Skoog's medium supplemented with 2.5-3.0 mg/L BAP, 0.01-0.1 mg/LNAA and 3% (w/v) sucrose. Inclusion of Adenine Sulphate (25mg/L) in the culture medium improved the frequency of multiple shoot production and recovered the chlorotic symptoms of the leaves. Media having pH 5.9 and 4% sucrose showed significant improvement on shoot bud multiplication and growth. In vitro flowering was observed when the subcultures were carried out for over four months in the same multiplication media. Rooting was readily achieved upon transferring the shoots on to half- strength MS medium supplemented with 0.1 mg/L IBA and 2% (w/v) sucrose. Micropropagated plantlets were hardened in the green house, successfully established, and flowered in the field. This method could effectively be applied for the conservation and clonal propagation to meet the demand of planting materials.

Highlights

Chlorophytum arundinaceum Baker belongs to the family Liliaceae is an important medicinal plant, distributed in the Eastern Himalayas, Eastern Ghats, Assam, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh (Chopra et al 1956, Anonymous 2000)
Shoot bud proliferation from stem disc: Shoot buds proliferated within 10-12 days of culture on 1⁄2 MS medium containing 1.0mg/L Benzyl Amino Purine (BAP), 3.0mg/L Indole Acetic Acid (IAA) and 3% (w/v) sucrose.; about 10-13 shoot buds were obtained from a stem disc (Fig. 1a)
Rapid shoot bud proliferation and multiplication was achieved on MS medium containing 3.0mg/L BAP with 0.1mg/l naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) and a maximum of 13.65 shoots were produced per culture in different treatments within four week of culture (Table 1, Fig. 1c)

Summary

Introduction

Chlorophytum arundinaceum Baker belongs to the family Liliaceae is an important medicinal plant, distributed in the Eastern Himalayas, Eastern Ghats, Assam, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh (Chopra et al 1956, Anonymous 2000) It is popularly known as safed musli. Excessive collections from its natural habitat and destructive harvesting techniques coupled with poor seed germination and low vegetative multiplication ratio have made this species endangered in the Eastern Ghats of India, and it figures in top lists among the rare medicinal herbs of India (Narasimham & Ravuru 2003) Exploitation of this species was made incessantly from the wild, due to the lack of organized commercial cultivation, contributing with the depletion of these natural populations at a high pace.

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Conclusion