Medicinal Plants - International Journal of Phytomedicines and Related Industries

Bergenia ciliata is an important ornamental medicinal plant of Sikkim Himalaya with wide range of pharmaceutical applications. In the present study, an efficient in vitro propagation protocol has been developed for B. ciliata using leaf disc explants. The highest number of regenerated shoots per explant was obtained on solid Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with a combination of 5 μM 6-benzylaminopurine (BA) and 5 μM indole-3-acetic acid (IAA). The 100% rooting was observed in shoots after 6 weeks of culture on liquid MS medium. The plantlets were successfully acclimatized (100%) in a garden soil-sand-farmyard manure mixture (1: 1: 1 v/v/v) in the greenhouse. This micropropagation protocol would facilitate rapid propagation of B. ciliata for its conservation, and could help pharmaceutical demands sustainably.