In vitro micropropagation of Desmodium gangeticum (L.) DC (Fam-Fabaceae): a medicinal legume through axillary bud multiplication.

Medicinal plants possess unlimited and untapped wealth of chemical compounds with high drug potential which make these plants useful as sources of biomedicines. The rising demand for herbal medicines in the organized manufacturing sector has ruthlessly exploited the wild growing plant population those have bulk use. So for high rate multiplication of different medicinal plants, it is necessary to standardize the protocol for high regeneration. The efficiency of any regeneration is primarily depends on factors like type of explants used, composition of the medium and type of genotype. Here, we have developed a regeneration protocol of Desmodium gangeticum (L.) DC (Salparni, Fam- Fabaceae) a medicinal plant through axillary bud multiplication. Nodal explants from Desmodium gangeticum plants were cultured on Murashige and Skoog's basal medium with Kn or BA at different concentrations. 0.5 mg L(-1) BA in the medium, showed shoot multiplication. Regenerated shoots measuring 3 cm or more were excised and planted on semi solid basal medium supplemented with varying concentrations of either IAA or IBA for induction of rooting. IBA treatment at 1.0 mg L(-1) was the best eliciting 100% rooting response. The in vitro propagation protocol standardized can be highly useful in raising quality planting materials of Desmodium gangeticum for commercial plantation programmes and germplasm conservation.