Per se Performance of Elite Accessions of Indian Pennywort (Centella asiatica L.) for Growth, Herbage Yield and Triterpenoid Compounds

Indian Pennywort (Centella asiatica L.) is an important tropical medicinal plant having pharmaceutical, neutraceutical and cosmoceutical properties but it is treated as threatened species due to indiscriminate collections from the wild. The whole herb is economically important and its biological effects have been attributed to the existence of major triterpene derivatives including madecassoside, asiaticoside, madecassic and asiatic acid. To meet the industrial requirement on sustainable basis, commercial cultivation of Centella asiatica L. is the only solution. The sustained supply of quality raw material to the industry is possible only through cultivation of elite genotypes with high potency as the natural resources are dwindling. Increased productivity will also facilitate the international trade with high potency raw material at a reasonable cost.

The field evaluation was carried out at Zonal Agricultural and Horticultural Research Station, Mudigere, Keladi Shivappa Nayaka University of Agricultural and Horticulture Sciences, Shivamogga during 2018–19 with nine selected accessions along with check variety Vallabh Medha in randomized complete block design with three replications. These accessions were selected based on per se performance with respect to triterpenoid content and its yield over three seasons among 39 accessions collected from different ecological regions of hill zone of Karnataka, India. They were evaluated for quantitative and quantitative traits.

The results of the study indicated that all the parameters studied differed significantly except for chlorophyll content. Among elite accessions, Acc. 07 and Vallabh Medha performed better for most of the growth parameters, while for the yield attributes Acc. 12, Vallabh Medha, Acc. 6 and Acc.18 were found better. Regarding total triterpenoid yield per hectare, the accessions Acc. 12 (180.16 kg ha^-1), Acc.3 (141.01 kg ha^-1) and Acc.7 (137.98 kg ha^-1) seemed to be promising accessions.