Ibemhal D Asem
Central Agricultural University, India
Title: In vitro induction of multiple shoots and roots of Curcuma caesia Roxb on a single medium
Biography
Biography: Ibemhal D Asem
Abstract
Curcuma caesia Roxb (Zingiberaceae), known as black turmeric in English, is a perennial herb with bluish-black rhizome found throughout the Himalayan region, North-East and Central India. The plant has been traditionally used in India for several medicinal purposes thus has a high economical importance. In the current scenario, there is a growing interest for the replacement of synthetic antioxidants or colorants by the natural products which have no harmful effect. The antioxidant properties of Curcuma caesia are effective in retarding the process of lipid peroxidation in oils and fatty foods and have been found out that the plant has antimutagenic properties which gained the interest of many research groups. But the plant has been recently characterized as endangered species due to the increasing demand and overexploitation without ensuring its regeneration. There is an increasing need to produce the plant to meet the human requirement, considering the need the present study was taken up to produce a large scale plantlets in a short duration of time. Therfore, an efficient and direct single medium based protocol for multiple shoot and root induction has been achieved from the rhizome explants of Curcuma caesia Roxb, when cultured on full strength MS media with different concentration of auxin (NAA) and cytokinins (BAP, KIN) with sucrose of 3%. Maximum number of shoots and maximum number of roots were induced in the medium, MS+5 mg/l BAP+ 2.5 mg/l KIN+2.0 mg/l NAA with cent percent regeneration. The regenerated plantlets were acclimatized and established on the soil with 95% of success. Thus, the current study would improve and standardize rapid and efficient in vitro techniques for clonal propagation using rhizome explants.