Cost-effective alternates are not always valued in plant tissue culture: A case study in an endangered ethnobotanical herb Saussurea costus (Kuth) of the Himalayan region

A low-cost method of in vitro micropropagation of the threatened medicinally vital species Saussurea costus (Kuth) was taken into consideration in the current study, to lower down the production costs because micropropagation technology is often more expensive than conventional methods of plant multiplication. Inexpensive media were produced using low-cost alternatives to laboratory-grade chemicals used as carbon sources, gelling agents, and distilled water, respectively. A significant difference between control and cost-effective media was interpreted based on the observations drawn based on morphogenesis during establishment, propagation, and rooting. The rooted microshoots were successfully acclimatized. Though, randomly selected plants developed through this approach were found genetically stable when subjected to assess the genetic homogeneity using PCR-based molecular markers. It was concluded that cost-effective substitutes couldn’t be recommended in efficient micropropagation of this high-value medicinal herb due to slow growth, low multiplication, and high mortality rate.