Elite Screening and In Vitro Propagation of Tinospora cordifolia (Willd.) Miers ex Hook F. & Thoms.

A protocol was established for the high frequency in vitro propagation of Tinospora cordifolia through nodal explant culture. Plants were collected from different geographical areas for screening superior germplasm based on berberine content, the prominent alkaloid present in the plant. Of the different accessions estimated for berberine, candidate elite plant (CEP) 8 recorded highest quantity (757.3 µg g dw) of berberine, therefore selected as elite mother plant for in vitro culture. MS medium supplemented with different concentrations of benzyl adenine (BA) and kinetin were used for in vitro culture of nodal explants derived from elite plant. The best result was obtained in 2 µM BA supplemented medium with 75% response, 2.95 shoots per culture reaching 4.89 cm shoot length. Initial cultures were subsequently used for the subculture with the multiplication rate of 3.83 shoots at the fourth subculture. Use of phloroglucinol at varying concentrations did not improve shoot number. The in vitro raised shoots after 4 weeks of culture were excised for rooting at ex vitro conditions. Two auxins, IBA and IAA at different concentrations were used to induce rooting of which IBA (30 µM) treated microshoots produced significant (p < 0.001) rooting (87.77%) and root number (7.29) in sand and soil (1:1) mixture. The ex vitro rooted plants showed 80% survival. Ex vitro rooting effectively synchronized rooting and acclimatization steps thereby reduced time, labour and cost of production. An estimate of propagation efficiency revealed a total of 1044 hardened plants were produced from a single node within a 6 months culture period. © 2018, The National Academy of Sciences, India.