Development of a Successful Protocol for in vitro Mass Propagation of Celastrus paniculatus Willd. – A Valuable Medicinal Plant

Abstract

Celastrus paniculatus Willd. belongs to family Celastraceae. Seeds provide an extremely important medicinal oil which is reported to sharpen the memory and also used to cure a number of diseases. The rate of seed germination is low and other vegetative propagation methods also cannot be used for cultivation. This was recorded as a highly threatened plant in the 1999 list of threatened fauna and flora of Sri Lanka. The objective of this study was to develop a successful protocol for in vitro mass propagation of C. paniculatus and to study the growth and physiology of greenhouse established tissue cultured plants. Nodal segments, shoot tips and leaf discs were used as explants. They were cultured in Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with different combinations of growth regulators in order to induce callus. It was observed that MS medium supplemented with 5.0 µM 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP) and 7.0 µM indole-3-acetic acids (IAA) was the best medium for callus induction from tested explants. Both shoot tips and nodal segment explants produced multiple shoots in the MS medium in the presence of 10.0 µM BAP and 14.0 µM IAA. Multiple shoots were induced in the MS media with 5.0 µM BAP and 0.5 µM IAA. Elongated shoots developed roots and the highest rooting percentage (73.3%) was obtained in the MS medium supplemented with 5.6 µM IAA and 9.6 µM Indole-3-butyric acid (IBA). Rooted plants were acclimatized in different potting mixtures and a mixture of river sand: top soil: compost (1:1:1) gave the highest survival rate (80.0%). Rate of photosynthesis and the stomatal resistance of in vitro produced plants increased with time indicating that tissue cultured plants adapted to natural environment. Growth of the acclimatized plants had a sigmoid pattern of normal growth in the greenhouse.