Clonal propagation of Curcuma aeruginosa Roxb.: A versatile medicinal plant

Curcuma aeruginosa Roxb. (blackturmeric) belonging to family Zingiberaceae is a versatile medicinal plant. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of MS-salts (Murashige and Skoog) and sucrose concentrations on the in vitro multiplication and rooting of C. aeruginosa. The MS medium supplemented with different concentrations of BAP alone or in combination with different concentrations of NAA produced a varying degree of multiple shoots. Supplementation of 3 mg/L BAP and 1 mg/L NAA gave the best result. The in vitro-established C. aeruginosa, plants were inoculated in a medium supplemented with 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 g L⁻¹ sucrose. Optimum sucrose concentrations 30g L⁻¹ induced a greater number of shoot and root numbers. During the establishment of initial culture; explants of 1 to 2 cm took longer days for the first bud appearance and scored the highest percentage of survival rate after 45 days. Explants of 2cm produced 10±0.53 number of microshoots. The interactive effect between BAP (3 mg/L) and NAA (1 mg/L) on the cultures produced the highest number of shoots 24±0.79. The plantlets were then allowed to acclimatize and successfully established under field conditions