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Betelvine (Piper betle L.) is cultivated for its deep green heart shaped leaf for (15-20) million Indian and 2 billion foreign consumers annually. The crop provides Rs (6000-7000) million of national income per year and at the same time leaves worth Rs (30-40) million is exported to other countries. The leaves are not only used directly for chewing purposes but also possesses antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-apoptotic, anti-cancer and anti-microbial properties. Besides, the leaves also contain eugenol rich essential oil (1%-3%) which is the source for medicine, stimulant, antiseptic, tonic and other ayurvedic formulations. The essential oil also contains chavibetol, caryophyllene and methyl eugenol which are the potent source for preparation in ayurvedic medicine and herbal products. Cost of betelvine essential oil is 10$ per 5 mL. In spite of its great economical and medicinal importance betelvine is still neglected by the researchers for proper characterization and authentication for selection of elite landraces. Lack of awareness among people, use of same planting material for many generations, existing of many synonyms for a single landraces, no proper characterization of available landraces are some of the significant constraints for its commercialization. Our review endeavours a complete advance in the research on betelvine, existing lacunae for its proper characterization and commercial cultivation. It also attempts to provide a comprehensive account on biotechnological interventions made in betelvine aimed at complementing conventional programmes for improvement of this nutraceutically important cash crop.

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Kaempferia galanga L., family Zingiberaceae, is used extensively in the preparation of both traditional and modern medicines. Buds of rhizomes of K. galanga were incubated on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with 1 mg/l benzyladenine and 0.5 mg/l indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) to induce shoot proliferation. Micropropagated plantlets subjected to random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR) marker-based molecular profiling revealed uniform banding patterns similar to those of the mother plants. After 2 years of culture in vitro, plantlets were transplanted to the field, evaluated for different agronomic traits, and their rhizomes were subjected to biochemical profiling using quantitative and qualitative assays of essential oils. Gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy analysis of rhizome oil of micropropagated plants showed the presence of 10 major components which were similar to those detected in the mother plants, and accounted for 95.5% of the total compounds. The compound ethylp-methoxy cinnamate accounted for 59.5% of the total compounds detected, followed by ethyl cinnamate, 3-carene, pentadecane, borneol, bornyl acetate, delta-selinene, camphor, alpha-piene and immidazole, 5-carbonylvinyl-4-nitro. Biochemical and molecular profiling of micropropagated clones revealed that an in vitro micropropagation protocol could be effectively used for commercial propagation of true-to-type K. galanga for a stable supply of the medicinal compounds present in this plant species.

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