MICROPROPAGATION OF TWO SPECIES OF RAUVOLFIA (APOCYNACEAE)

摘要

Rauvolfia micrantha - a rare, endemic species in the Western Ghats of India and R. tetraphylla - an introduced and naturalized species are economically important for their alkaloids. While tissue culture studies on the relatively more important sarpagandha (R. serpentina) are aplenty, the studies in these related species are limited. Proliferation from the axillary bud on the Murashige and Skoog medium, supplemented with 2 mg/l of benzyladenine (BA) induced the quiescent buds within 15 days of inoculation (R. tetraphylla - 75% and R. micrantha - 82%) and further multiplication of the shoots was best achieved when the medium contained adenine sulphate (0.005 mg/l) and lower BA levels. Rooting of these shoots was possible both in vitro (2 mg/l of indole butyric acid (IBA) or ex vitro (with 100 mg/l) of IBA) with about the same frequency. Reports on the micropropagation of wild species of Rauvolfia indicated low multiplication rates (1:3), while we report here a high rate (1:9) in both spp. (viz. R. micrantha and R. tetraphylla) and the successful weaning (ex vitro) of 60% of such shoots. [References: 14]