Artificial induction of polyploidy in Andrographis paniculata (Burm. F.) wall. ex nees.

Andrographis paniculata (Burm. f.) Wall. ex Nees. is an important plant of family Acanthaceae, used extensively in systems of traditional medicine in India. The active principle, a secondary metabolite is highly concentrated in plant biomass and since increased ploidy level often leads to increased biomass, experimental induction of colchiploidy was conducted to elucidate the role of ploidy manipulation for plant improvement. Colchicine was applied in several concentrations and durations, followed by preliminary screening of putative polyploids on basis of gigas characteristics; and cytogenetic stability was taken as determinative feature for successful polyploid induction. The induced polyploids display increased growth and vigour, increased leaf metabolite content over diploid progenitor. Statistical analyses reveal significant influence of ploidy manipulation. Morphological, biochemical and statistical analyses support the efficacy of polyploid breeding for plant improvement.