MICROPROPAGATION OF VAJRADANTI (BARLERIA PRIONITIS L.): A HIGH VALUE ANTIDONTALGIC AND ETHNO-MEDICINAL HERB

Tissue culture of medicinal plants is widely used to produce clones and has been found in the conservation of threatened plants species face risk of extinction. Vajradanti is an ethno-medicinally important plant showing pharmacological effects such as anti-microbial, anti-helminthic, anti-fertility, anti-oxidant, anti-diabetic, anti-arthritic, hepato-protective, diuretic, cytoprotective, antidiarrhoeal, analgesic, anti-leukemic, anti-inflammatory and hypoglycemic properties. Micropropagation in most of the plant species involve proliferation of explants using MS medium. There are scanty reports on tissue culture and regeneration of Vajradanti. However, no effective in vitro regeneration protocol has been developed for this medicinally important plant. Development of high frequency regeneration pathway was undertaken using shoot tip and nodal segments of Barleria prionitis on MS medium supplemented with auxin and cytokinins alone and in various combinations.