Effect of sex form and environment on biomass yield in Valeriana jatamansi Jones

The germplasm of Valeriana jatamansi Jones were collected from high altitude of different parts of Uttarakhand and Himanchal Pradesh. The Valeriana is a perennial herb up to 45 cm. tall and stem tufted. The rootstock of this plant has powerful nervine, stimulant, carminative and antispasmodic medicinal properties. The main photochemical present in the epidermal layer of the rootstock of the plant are valerianic acid, formic acid, acetic acid and borneol. The three sex forms, viz., gynoecious, gynomonoecious and bisexual were identified from the germplasm collected from various places, at VCSG, College of Horticulture, Bharsar, GBPUA&T., Pantnagar, Pauri Garhwal. During kharif season, 2007 these sex forms were evaluated for fresh aerial biomass, dry aerial biomass, fresh rootstock and dry rootstock per plant, grown under partial shade and open environment. The analysis of variance revealed that there was significant difference among all the sex forms for all traits studied. It is evident from the present study that, the bisexual form of Valeriana was significantly superior to gynoceious and gynomonoecious forms for all the characters, under both open and partial shade environment. The dry aerial biomass and dry rootstock biomass in bisexual form under open condition were highest (16.36 g, 13.43 g) followed by gynomonoecious (15.49 g, 13.10 g) and gynoecious forms (14.50 g, 12.19 g), respectively. Thus, the bisexual form of Valeriana jatamansi Jones planted in open environment is recommended for high biomass yield and is considered better for commercial cultivation. Further, it may included in breeding programmes as a recipient parent to develop better genotypes.