In vitro propagation of medicinal plant Sida cordifolia under different growth regulators and salt stress

Abstract

The demand of medicinal plants is increasing in pharmaceutical industries due to the presence of differentsecondary metabolites. Due to this reason, different plant species are likely to become endangered or extinctdue to their medicinal importance. Sida cordifolia (Malvaceae) is one of them. It is a very valuable medicinalherb mentioned in Indian Ayurveda and other medicinal systems throughout the world. It iscommonlyknown as Bala. It is used to treat asthma, chronic dysentery, asthma, gonorrhea and as a fatburningsupplement. The entire plant is rich in secondary metabolites. It constitutes important bioactivecompoundssuch as ephedrine, vasicinone, vasicinol, palmitic, stearic acid. Tissue culturetechnique will provide anefficient method for propagation and conservation of this medicinal plant. For direct shoot regenerationfrom nodal explants under in vitro conditions, BAP performed better than Kn. Shoot regeneration wasfound maximum at 2.0 mg/l BAP. The plantlets were also tested for their salinity tolerance. Root, shootlength and biomass was not affected by low levels of salinity stress. However, high levels of salinity stress(200mM) reduced the shoot, root length and biomass drastically. For root induction, half-strength MS medium with 2.0 mg/l IBA and 3% (w/v) sucrose was found to be the best. Regenerated plants were found to bemorphologically similar to the mother plants. This protocol could be helpful for mass cultivation andgermplasm conservation of S. cordifolia.