In vitro propagation and somaclonal variation study of Phlogacanthus thyrsiformis Nees an ethnic medicinal plant

Bodoland Territorial Region is very rich in natural bioresources, and the Bodo tribes of the region use numerous ethnic medicinal plants to treat different kinds of diseases. Phlogacanthus thyrsiformis Nees is an important medicinal shrub species used in the region to treat different kinds of diseases. The objectives of the present study were to develop an efficient in vitro mass propagation technique of the species using nodal explant and study genetic stability in the genome of in vitro propagated plantlets by different RAPD markers. Effective explant surface sterilisation resulted at 2 minutes of treatment with 0.1% mercuric chloride. Explant responses were found most effective in the full strength MS + 1mg/l BAP (6- benzyl amino purine), and explant highest shoot proliferation multiplication and rooting were found in the media MS + 1 mg/l BAP + 0.250 mg/l NAA. Ex vitro rooting of micro propagated plants was most effective when the explants were dipped in 1mg/l IBA for an hour. RAPD assays were conducted using eight sets of random primers (OPC02, OPC05, OPC07, OPC08, OPC09, OPX06, DK2 and OPA01). All the primers except OPC07 and OPA01 formed monomorphic DNA bands in gel electrophoresis and polymorphism was detected by OPC07 and OPA01 primer

In vitro propagation and plant regeneration of Torenia crustacea (L.) Charm. & Schltdl; an important ethnic medicinal plant

Torenia crustacea (L.) Charm. & Schltdl is an important medicinal herb used in India, Indonesia and Malaysia. This herb is used by Bodo tribes in the Bodoland Territorial Region, Assam to treat various diseases like diabetes. The present experiment developed an efficient protocol for in vitro mass propagation technique for Torenia crustacea species using its nodal explants. For tissue culture, the rapidly growing nodal explants of Torenia crustacea were used. Effective explant surface sterilisation was found at 15 min. of treatment with 2% sodium hypochlorite resulting in a maximum explant survival rate and a lower rate of explant contamination after 21 days of explant culture. Media containing full strength MS (Murashige and Skoog's) + BAP (6- Benzyl amino purine) (1 mg/l) were found most effective for the establishment of the explant. The highest shoot proliferation and multiplication were observed in the media containing full strength MS + BAP (1 mg/l) + NAA (Naphthalene acetic acid) (0.2 mg/l); in this combination, an average of 16 shoots formed per nodal explant. The rooting of explants was observed highest in MS media along with 0.4 mg/l concentration of NAA and 1 mg/l BA. The in vitro multiplied shoots were grown in plastic pots containing vermicompost fertiliser and soil mixture and successfully grown in the open field condition

Evaluation of Antihelminthic Activity of Bixa orellana

Intestinal worms are common problems in remote and rural areas of India. The communities of remote areas use some wild plants to treat intestinal worms. Among them, Bixa orellana is a monogenic plant of family Bixaceae, popularly known as lipstick tree or Annatto and locally called as Sinduri. It is traditionally used to kill the intestinal worms, results revealed that seeds of B. orellana possess diverse secondary metabolites such as tannin and phenolic compounds which might be responsible to kill the worms. Antihelminthic activity showed that seed extracts (aqueous, acetone, methanol, and ethanol) were effective against Eisenia fetida. Keeping the traditional uses of Sinduri against stomach worm and to reduce the side effects of synthetic drugs, the present experiment has been designed