Shoot multiplication rate in different subculture cycles and genetic fidelity in an important but endangered medicinal herb Curculigo orchioides Gaertn.

Curculigo orchioides Gaertn. is a perennial herb of monogeneric family- hypoxidacea. Curculigo orchioides was multiplied on Murashige and Skoog's medium with half-strength nitrogen and 0.44 μM 6-benzyladenine. The developed shoots demonstrated root induction on same medium. This study reports different subculture cycles and rate of shoot multiplication. Multiple shoots were obtained from leaf explants and propagated up to twelve subculture cycles. Maximum multiplication rate (10.3 shoots/explant) was obtained from first subculture cycle. However, multiplication in subsequent subcultures declined to 3.85 shoots/explant in 7^th subculture cycle. Genetic fidelity of the in vitro derived plants was assessed using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD).