Conservation of medicinal plants of Western Ghats, India and its sustainable utilization through in vitro technology

Abstract

Climate change, alien species, and use of land for intensive farming and development are causing severe threat to the plant genetic diversity worldwide. Hence, conservation of biodiversity is considered fundamental and also provides the livelihoods to millions of people worldwide. Medicinal plants play a key role in the treatment of a number of diseases, and they are only the source of medicine for majority of people in the developing world. The tropical regions of the world supply the bulk of current global demand for "natural medicine," albeit with increasing threat to populations in the world and its genetic diversity. India is a major center of origin and diversity of crop and medicinal plants. India poses out 20,000 species of higher plants, one third of it being endemic and 500 species are categorized to have medicinal value. The Western Ghats is one of the major repositories of medicinal plants. It harbors around 4,000 species of higher plants of which 450 species are threatened. Currently, the number of species added to the red list category in this region is increasing, and the valuable genetic resources are being lost at a rapid rate. Demand for medicinal plants is increasing, and this leads to unscrupulous collection from the wild and adulteration of supplies. Providing high-quality planting material for sustainable use and thereby saving the genetic diversity of plants in the wild is important. During the last 25 years of intensive research, Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute has developed in vitro protocol for rapid regeneration and establishment of about 40 medicinally important rare and threatened plants of Western Ghats.In situ conservation alone would not be effective in safeguarding these important species. Thus, utilizing the biotechnoligical approach to complement ex situ conservation program is becoming vital. Propagating biotechnology tools in plant conservation program is a prerequisite to succeed in sustainable use and to complement the existing ex situ measures. In addition to propagation, storage of these valuable genetic resources is equally important. In vitro slow growth of 35 species and cryopreservation using embryo/meristem/seed in 20 different species of rare medicinal plants of this region is accomplished. Plants developed in vitro of ten medicinal plants, which have restricted distribution, were reintroduced in the natural habitat as well.

Efficient in vitro propagation of Artemisia nilagirica var. nilagirica (Indian wormwood) and assessment of genetic fidelity of micropropagated plants

“…Habitat destruction for agricultural purposes and low seed viability is a major concern for the propagation of these plants. Plant tissue culture techniques are useful for mass multiplication of threatened medicinal plants (Rout et al 2000;Krishnan et al 2011). Consequently, the present investigation is concerned to establish axenic cultures of medicinal plant Artemisia nilagirica var.…”

Micropropagation of Hedychium coronarium J. Koenig through rhizome bud

“…Besides, they also serve as an alternate source of plant raw materials for commercial utilization, which lessens pressure on the plant population in wild habitat (Krishnan et al 2011). To date, only a few reports on in vitro plant regeneration of H. coronarium through callus mediated somatic embryogenesis from sheaths and leaves (Huang and Tsai 2002) or rhizome (Verma and Bansal 2012) and axenic shoot tip (Bisht et al 2012) are available.…”

Conservación de plantas regeneradas in vitro y análisis de la variación somaclonal de Cinchona officinalis, Linneo

“…Las especies del género Cinchona y, entre estas, Cinchona officinalis ) al igual que muchas otras especies de importancia medicinal (Krishnan et al 2011;Mohanty et al 2013) se están viendo afectadas por causas como el cambio climático y la modificación del ecosistema. Esto puede estar provocando erosión genética (Rivera et al 2008) y disminución de las poblaciones naturales, haciendo que las que las especies se conviertan en vulnerables o amenazadas (Holobiuc et al 2009;Krishnan et al 2011), peligrando la permanencia en su hábitat natural.…”

“…Esto puede estar provocando erosión genética (Rivera et al 2008) y disminución de las poblaciones naturales, haciendo que las que las especies se conviertan en vulnerables o amenazadas (Holobiuc et al 2009;Krishnan et al 2011), peligrando la permanencia en su hábitat natural. La conservación de las especies vegetales requiere de un enfoque integrado y complementario de las estrategias de conservación in situ y ex situ (Holobiuc et al 2009;Pence 2010).…”

“…Permite mantener células, tejidos y órganos a bajas temperaturas, generalmente usando nitrógeno líquido (NL) (-196°C) o nitrógeno en estado de vapor (-140 °C) ). A diferencia de los métodos anteriormente mencionados, a estas temperaturas los tejidos detienen el metabolismo, permitiendo ser conservados por largos periodos y a bajos costos (Bajaj 1988;Engelmann 2004;Krishnan et al 2011). La crioconservación se ha venido aplicando de forma limitada a las especies con semillas recalcitrantes y de forma rutinaria en tratamiento de muestras biológicas (Engelmann 2011).…”