Artificial Seed Development of Selected Anti-Diabetic Plants, Their Storage and Regeneration: Progress and Prospect

Diabetes mellitus is becoming a prime area of public health concern around the world that is shifting its focus toward plants having anti-diabetic properties, which can be used for the treatment of diabetes. To meet the demand based on the pharmaceutical importance, approaches on rapid propagation, conservation, and germplasm exchange of anti-diabetic plant materials are need of the hour. In this context, artificial seed production technique can be employed for large-scale propagation, conservation of germplasms, and exchange of anti-diabetic plants materials among laboratories to facilitate the production of secondary metabolites for drug development. Artificial seed technology is mainly attempted for easier exchange and short- to mid-term storage of germplasm. In addition, long-term storage can be achieved through encapsulation-dehydration or encapsulation-vitrification followed by liquid nitrogen exposure, i.e., cryopreservation (storing at ultra-low temperature). The alginate encapsulation technology is being used in various anti-diabetic plants to produce artificial seeds using different kinds of explants depending on the plant species, which can be stored and regenerated after definite storage duration. To attain uniform, isodiametric, firm beads, a range of sodium alginate with calcium chloride was found to be effective across the concerned anti-diabetic plant species. Relatively low progress has been made regarding the long-term storage of artificial seeds retaining its viability. This chapter primarily addresses the factors affecting the artificial seed production and their storage of some anti-diabetic plants across various families.