Abstract

A rapid micropropagation protocol was established for Gynura procumbens(Lour.) Merr., an important  medicinal plant for the treatment of various ailments such as diabetes, hypertension and urinary tract infection. The nodal segments of one year old mature plants was used as the explants for the initiation of axillary branching using Murashige and Skoog (1962) medium (MS) supplemeted with 2mg l^–1 BA. Rapid proliferation of shoots was achieved by culturing the in vitroshoots derived from the nodal segments onto MS medium supplemented with 2.0 mg l^-1 BA and 0.5 mg l^–1 NAA. An average of 18.2 ± 0.6 shoots were produced from each shoot explant. All the micro-shoots produced normal roots within two weeks of culture on the basic MS medium without any plant growth regulators. All the rooted plantlets of G. procumbens (100%) survived when they were planted into Jiffy-7 and placed on a shaded place with a temperature of 27 - 30ºC for two weeks.  An average of 95 – 98% of the acclimatized plantlets survived after two weeks of transferring into the organic soil: sand mixture (1:1). All the in vitroderived plants displayed normal developement as that of the mother plants when they reached mature stage.

Key words: Medicinal plant,micropropagation,nodal segment,shoot proliferation.