Effect of Phytohormones on Leaf Explants of Bacopa Monnieri L. Penn: An Endangered Medicinal Plant

The present investigation is focussed on producing an efficient protocol for rapid and large scale in vitro propagation of a valuable medicinal herb, Bacopa monnieri. The effect of phytohormones such as 2,4dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), naphthalene acetic acid (NAA), indole acetic acid (IAA), indole-3- butryric acid (IBA), thidiazuron (TDZ), kinetin (KN) and 6-benzyl amino purine (BAP) at concentrations of 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 5.0 and 10.0 µM was studied by inoculation of leaf explants of B. monnieri after surface sterilization on Murashige and Skoog (MS) media with (20g/l) sucrose. The shoots obtained were transferred to the rooting media. For hardening the plantlets were transferred to plastic cups containing mixture of soil and vermicompost (1:1). KN was found to be superior for induction of adventitious shoots with 85±0.5 shoots/explants in semi-solid and 200±0.5 shoots/explants in liquid medium. Whereas, 10.0 µM NAA showed maximum percentage (95%) of callus induction. 10.0 µM IBA resulted in maximum mean length (5.00±0.5) of the roots and maximum number (17.0±0.5) of root. The results thus indicate the use of leaf explants with the influence of phytohormones as a reproducible, dependable, simple - two steps procedure for clonal propagation for conservation of B. monnieri with high-rate of adventitious shoot formation.