IN VITRO RESPONSE BY Terminalia arjuna GENOTYPES DURING MICROPROPAGATION

Abstract

Terminalia arjuna is an important tree of the medicinal and sericulture industry, commonly known as Arjun. It’s bark is rich in secondary metabolites makes this plant highly valuable in medicine industry to treat cardiovascular disease. Overexploitation due to high demand in medicine, low seed germination, limitations of the conventional method of propagation push this plant towards being endangered. To conserve germplasm of such tree species and meet the requirement in medicinal industry, some non-conventional propagation method like micropropagation has been developed. The present work highlighted the effect of three genotypes (G-1, G-2, and G-3) on tissue culture of T. arjuna situated at Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India. In vitro shoot proliferation was achieved on a modified MS medium enriched with BAP + additives. Among the tested genotypes, Genotype -1 showed maximum bud break response (100%) followed by G-3 (93.33 %) and G-2 (86.66%). Further multiplication of these shoots on modified MS medium containing BAP + NAA + additives gave 11.38±0.26 (G-1), 9.44±0.21 (G-2) and 10.22±0.32 (G-3) shoots. In vitro rooting was done by pulse treatment with IBA for 10 min prior to transfer on hormone free half strength MS medium containing 0.1% activated charcoal. Maximum in vitro rooting was obtained in G-1 (80%) followed by G-3 (71.11%) and G-2 (68.88%). In the present study, it was observed that optimum growth in all three genotypes required different doses of Plant Growth Regulator. Thus, by identifying and multiplying the best performing genotypes the gap between demand and supply of such medicinal plant can be fulfilled.