MICROPROPAGATION AND FIELD PERFORMANCE OF CHLOROPHYTUM BORIVILIANUM

Abstract

Medicinal plant Chlorophytum borivilianum also called Safed musli, is an endogenous medicinal plant of India and distributed in certain parts of India like Assam, Eastern Ghats, Eastern Himalayas, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh. It is valued for its tuberous roots having aphrodisiac properties. Farmers in India cultivate this medicinal herb on a commercial scale because of its high economic value. To cater the growing demand for planting material, a highly responsible field-tested and cost-effective micropropagation scheme has been developed. Best shoot multiplication was achieved on agar- gelled MS medium containing 22.2mM6-benzylaminopurine (BAP) and 3% sucrose. With the optimized conditions, more than 15,000 plantlets could be produced in 20 week. Plantlets subjected to hardening under agro-shadenet conditions during the monsoon months of high humidity showed better survival rate and growth compared to plantlets hardened in vitro and subsequently transferred to the greenhouse for acclimatization. Rate of plantlet survival was 87% and 90% under open field and agro-shadenet conditions, respectively. Plantlets grown ex v i t ro under agro-shadenet and field conditions produced tuberous roots which could be grown in the next season as a secondary propagule. In vitro production of safed musli was cost effective compared to conventional propagation and holds great potential for commercial production.