Comparative in vitro regeneration study of mature and juvenile nodal explants and extraction, isolation, characterization of bio-active constituents from leaves of an endangered medicinal plant Desmodium gangeticum (L.) DC

Abstract

An efficient and reproducible micropropagation system for Desmodium gangeticum (L.) DC, an endangered medicinal plant through in vitro culture of nodal explants from one year old branches of field grown mature plants and from 4 week old seedlings has been developed. Nodal explants cultured on growth regulator (GR) free MS medium did not show Auxiliary shoot development. BA (6-benzyl aminopurine) at 4.4 μM induced shoot development from the 100% and 88% of the explants from seedling and mature plant branches respectively; it also produced the highest number of shoots per explants (24.1 and 18.7 shoots from seedling and mature shoot -derived nodal explants respectively). Three subcultures of the nodal explants enable mass multiplication of shoots without the evidence of any decline. The shoots were elongated on 0.58 μM GA3. The highest rooting (96%) and the maximum number of roots (9) per shoot were obtained when elongated shoots were dipped in indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) solution (492.12 μM) for 30 minutes and then cultured on half-strength MS medium. Plantlets were successfully acclimatized and transferred to the field with survival rate of 96%. These plants grew normally in the field without any observable morphological variation.