In Vitro Root Induction and Acclimatization of Cissampelos pareira: An Important Medicinal Plant

Abstract

Cissampelos pareira, known in Sinhala as Diyamiththa, is a climbing herb with numerous medicinal properties and belongs to the family Menispermaceae. The plant has a number of phytochemicals which have the potential to produce drugs for various diseases. An in vitro establishment and multiplication method were developed previously for this important medicinal herb in order to extract phytochemicals. Establishment of field plantations is another option to harvest large quantities of this plant. Therefore, the current study was aimed at developing a suitable in vitro root induction and acclimatization method for in vitro generated shoot tips of this plant. For root induction, micro-shoots were transferred to half strength MS medium with various combinations and concentrations of Indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) (0.5and 1.0 mg/L) and Indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) (0.5, 1.0and 1.5 mg/L). The study was carried out in Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with 20 replicates. The highest percentage of root formation, the highest number of roots and the highest length of roots were recorded in half strength MS medium with 0.5 mgL-1 IAA and 1.0 mgL-1 IBA. Above values were significantly higher than all other treatments (p S 0.05). Five different potting media were tested for acclimatization and a significantly high rate of survival was recorded from plantlets established in coco pellets (95%) (p S 0.05). The findings of this study can be used for commercial cultivation and further studies of Cissampelos pareira.