Rapid propagation through shoot tip culture of Trichopus zeylanicus Gaertn., a rare ethnomedicinal plant.

Rapid micropropagation of Trichopus zeylanicus Gaertn. subsp. travancoricus Burkil ex Narayanan, a rare ethnomedicinal herb endemic to the Western Ghats of southern India, was achieved by culturing shoot tips (0.3-0.5 cm) of 2-month-old axenic seedlings on Woody Plant Medium. Among the cytokinins tested, only BAP induced callus-free multiple shoot bud formation, with a maximum of 8.5±0.4 buds per explant being obtained with 2.0 mg.l(-1) BAP after 8 weeks of culture. Shoot tips containing proliferated buds were divided and subcultured on medium containing 0.2 mg.l(-1) BAP to produce 12.0±1.0 shoots per explant in 6 weeks. Excision of buds after culture initiation, with subculture of the debudded basal tissue in 2 successive passages yielded 20.0±1.0 and 13.5±0.5 buds per explant respectively. Each bud cultured in turn for 4 weeks on WPM with 1.0 mg.l(-1) BAP formed 3.8±0.4 secondary buds which were repeatedly recultured to increase bud production. Altogether this method enabled an estimated harvest of 7848 buds from a single shoot tip in 28 months. Shoots (3-5 cm) developed from bud cultures were rooted in half-strength WPM medium with 0.5 mg.l(-1) each of NAA and IBA, and 90-100% of the rooted plants were established in the field after hardening. Micropropagated plants were grown to maturity free of defects in growth, morphological, flowering and seed set characteristics.