Rapid in vitro Leaf Biomass Production of Genetically Stable Curcuma aromatica- An Under Exploited Medicinal Plant

Abstract Surface sterilized dormant axillary buds of rhizome of Curcuma aromatica Salisb., were cultured on Murashige and Skoog (MS) with benzyladenine (BA), kinetin (KIN), indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), indole-3-butyric acid (IBA), naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) and adenine sulphate (Ads) in different concentrations and combinations. Activation of explants occurred after 25 days of culture. The highest shoot numbers per explant ((7.4±0.3) was recorded on medium with 1 mg/l of BA and 0.5 mg/l of KIN. The maximum leaf biomass production was on 3 mg/l of BA and 0.5 mg/l of IAA (12.1±0.3 gm per plant). Similarly, the rooting was also observed maximum per plant (5.1±0.5) on 1 mg/l of BA and 0.5 mg/l of IBA. Two months old plantlets were transferred to fresh MS basal media for further growth. The micro propagated plants were acclimatized in greenhouse and after six months their survival rate were recorded as 95 % respectively. The genetic stability and fidelity of micropropagated plants was assessed through analysis of inter simple sequence repeats as compared to the mother plant. Nine ISSR primers produced a total number of 3350 bands and all were monomorphic. No variations among the micropropagated plants were recorded for two generations. The high antioxidant since present in the leaves of this plant enables us to produce more number of leaf biomass to meet the demand of aromatic leaf essential oil. Thus the process can be used for conservation and mass propagation of true-to-type Curcuma aromatica. Graphical abstract