Factors affecting in vitro plant regeneration from cotyledonary node explant of Senna sophera (L.) Roxb. – A highly medicinal legume

An efficient in vitro regeneration protocol has been developed for a medicinal legume Senna sophera (L.) Roxb. using Cotyledonary Node (CN) explants. The plant exhibits high medicinal potential and is being used in several traditional and homeopathy system of medicine. The present study described an in vitro regeneration protocol, where different factors were optimized for maximum multiplication and propagation. The age of the explant, plant growth regulators, basal medium, pH of the medium and sucrose concentrations markedly influenced in vitro propagation of S. sophera. Among 14, 21 and 28 day-old CN explants, 21 day-old explants were found to be the most responsive. A maximum of 19.50 ± 0.51 shoots/explant were produced from 21 day-old seedling explants, having an average shoot length of 5.23 ± 0.14 cm in 86.00 ± 2.08% cultures after 6 weeks of incubation on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with benzyl adenine (BA) (5.0 μM) + naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) (1.0 μM) and containing 3% sucrose with pH value adjusted at 5.8. The highest rooting frequency (96.00 ± 2.08%) with maximum of 7.63 ± 0.23 roots/shoot having an average root length of 4.86 ± 0.35 cm was obtained on half-strength MS medium with 1.0 μM indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) and solidified with 0.25% phytagel. The plantlets were acclimatized in sterile soilrite under controlled conditions, hardened and successfully transferred to soil in natural conditions with 90% survival rate. The regenerated plants showed no morphological variations in terms of leaf shape, flower shape, pod size, number of seeds etc., when compared with the naturally grown plants in the field.Keywords: Senna sophera, fabaceae, cotyledonary node, in vitro shoot regeneration, rooting, acclimatizationAfrican Journal of Biotechnology, Vol. 13(3), pp. 413-422, 15 January, 201

GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY-MASS SPECTROMETRY ANALYSIS OF METHANOLIC LEAF EXTRACT OF CASSIA ANGUSTIFOLIA VAHL.

ABSTRACTObjective: The leaves of Cassia angustifolia Vahl. are employed for the treatment of several human diseases. Therefore, the present study wasundertaken to determine the phytocomponents present in the methanolic extract of the leaves by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS)Methods: The collected leaf samples were dried and extracted in methanol. Screening of the extract was done by GC-MS which is an importanttechnique for the separation and identification of different phytochemicals.Results: The methanolic extract of the leaves of C. angustifolia revealed the presence of 45 different phytochemicals. The prevailing compounds were1 butanol, 3 methyl acetate (area % 7.47), 6, 6-dideutero-nonen-1-Ol-3 (area % 10.45), pentadecanoic acid (area % 9.22), and squalene (area %12.30). Vitamin E (area % 3.85) has also been found in the leaf extract. Some of the compounds possess biological activities.Conclusions: It can be concluded from the present study that some of the identified phytochemicals could be responsible for the medicinal value orbiological activity of the plant leaves.Keywords: Senna, Leaf extract, Methanol, Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, Phytochemicals, Vitamin E

<span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family: "Times New Roman";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family: Mangal;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language: HI" lang="EN-GB">Effect of explant origin on clonal propagation of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Aegle marmelos</i> (L.) Corr. —A multipurpose tree species</span>

566-573A comparative analysis was performed on the clonal propagation from aerial nodal segments and root sucker derived nodal segments of Aegle marmelos (L.) Corr. on MS medium supplemented with various concentrations of plant growth regulators (PGRs). The results proved that the nodal segments from root suckers have great potentials to multiply rapidly and produced large number of shoots (12.4±0.7) compared to aerial nodal segments (5.8±0.6) on a similar medium (MS+BA 5.0 µM+NAA 0.5 µM) and culture conditions (6 wk). Cultures were maintained up to the 5th subculture stage on the optimal regeneration medium for further multiplication and proliferation and by the end of 3rd subculture passage, a maximum of 40.4±3.6 shoots/explant were achieved from root sucker derived nodal segments. Ex vitro rooting in microshoots was employed to shorten the propagation span, with an added effect on acclimatization success. During acclimatization, estimation of different photosynthetic pigments was also carried out