Abstract

Phytolacca dodecandra L’Heit (Endod var. E-44) is a medicinal plant of high saponin content used as a snail control agent in schitosomiasis. The aim of this study was to develop a micrpropagation protocol for P. dodecandra. Nodal and shoot tip explants were sterilized and cultured on MS medium supplemented with different types of concentrations and combinations of auxin and cytokinin for shoot induction, multiplication and root formation. Sodium hypochlorite at a concentration of 1.56% exposure of 12 min gave high percentages (81.67%) of survived explants for nodal followed by 1.3% concentration of NaOCl exposure of 10 min (73%) for shoot tip. 6-Benzylaminopurine (2.22 μM) was found to be an optimum concentration for shoot induction, yielding 80% for nodal and 70% for shoot tip explants. The combination of BAP (2.22 μM) with kinetin (2.33 μM) was obtained as optimum concentration yielding 13.4 and 11.03 shoots per explants for nodal and shoot tip, respectively for shoot multiplication. Half - strength MS medium with IBA (2.45 μM) and IAA (2.85 μM) yielded more than 90% root formation with optimum root number and length. Sterilized soil mix of 2:1:1 (top forest soil: coffee husk: sand) was optimized yielding 80% on transparent polyethylene plastic box. This developed micropopagation protocol is highly significant for large scale propagation of this species as a source of saponin extraction for drug development against endemic schitosomiasis.

Key words: Explants, E-44 cultivar, plant growth regulators, micropropagation, detergents.