Effect of nutrients and sucrose on microrhizome production and diosgenin accumulation in cultures of Costus speciosus Sm. in vitro George Satheesh1, Assistant Professor, Unnikrishnan K. P.2, Raghu A. V.2, Geetha S. P.2, Balachandran Indira2 1CMS College, Kottayam-686001 2Centre for Medicinal Plants Research, Arya Vaidya Sala, Kottakkal, Changuvetty, Kottakkal, Malappuram District, Kerala-676 503, India Corresponding author: Satheesh George, E-mail: george.satheesh@gmail.com, satheesh_george@rediffmail.com
Online published on 15 May, 2012. Abstract A simple and efficient protocol was developed for in vitro microrhizome induction in Costus speciosus. Maximum microrhizome formation was observed in full strength MS medium containing 80gl−1 sucrose with an average of 3. 2g microrhizome per culture. Rhizome formation did not occur in different strengths of MS media (full, half and quarter) containing 2% sucrose. Effect of nutrients and sucrose on microrhizome production and diosgenin accumulation was analyzed. Maximum diosgenin content was recorded in microrhizomes produced in full strength MS medium containing 6% sucrose and least in quarter strength MS medium containing 8% sucrose. Top Keywords Costus speciosus, medicinal plant, microrhizome, diosgenin, HPTLC. Top |