Micropropagation of Kaempferia galanga L. ? a medicinal plant

Abstract

Kaempferia galanga is a zingiberaceous medicinal plant distributed in the tropics and subtropics of Asia and Africa. In India it is cultivated throughout the plains for its aromatic rhizome. The methanol extract of the rhizome of K. galanga contains ethyl p-methoxy trans-cinnamate, which is highly cytotoxic to HeLa cells (Kosuge et al. 1985). Recently larvicidal and anticancer principles have been obtained from its rhizome extracts (Kiuchi et al. 1988; Kosuge et al. 1985). The hot water extract of Kaempferia rhizome showed strong larvicidal activity against the larva of dog roundworm, Toxocara canis (Kiuchi et al. 1988). The constituents of the rhizome include cineol, borneol, 3-carene, camphene, kaempferol, kaempferide, cinnamaldehyde, pmethoxy cinnamic acid and ethyl cinnamate. This report presents an easy method of micropropagation of K. galanga from axillary buds and the subsequent establishment of plantlets in the field. Rhizomes of Kaempferia galanga L. (2 months old) collected from the Botanical Garden, Calicut University, were first washed thoroughly with a dilute detergent, teepol. Buds removed from the axils of leaves were surface disinfested with 0.1% aqueous solution of HgCI 2 for 5 min and rinsed 3-5 times in sterile distilled water. Single explants 1 mm long inoculated per culture tube onto a solid medium containing Murashige & Skoog's (MS 1962) salts and vitamins, 100 mg 1 -~ myo-inositol, 3% sucrose and 0.8% agar (BDH-Bacteriological grade). All the experiments were repeated twice. Different concentrations of benzyladenine (BA) and kinetin were added either singly or in combination with NAA tissue culture