Elicitation of forskolin in suspension cultures of Coleus forskohlii (Willd.) Briq. using bacterial elicitors

MS liquid medium supplemented with 3 mg/l NAA and 1 mg/l BAP with pH 5.7 was used for suspension cultures. Suspension cultures subjected to biotic elicitors Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli and Proteus aureus induced increase in forskolin content. Among all the elicitors tried Bacillus subtilis proved to be the best elicitor at 20% concentration which was 9 times higher than the control.