EFFICIENT REGENERATION AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF THE ENDANGERED SPECIES SWERTIA CHIRAYITA

Abstract

An efficient in vitro regeneration protocol was established for Swertia chirayita. The present study describes the regeneration of S. chirayita from shoot tip explants collected from wild grown plantlets. The highest number of shoots (26.10 ± 0.73) were obtained on Murashige and Skoog basal medium supplemented with 6-benzyladenine (BA) (0.5mg/l) in combination with gibberellic acid (GA₃) (1.0 mg/l). The mean number of roots (11.46 ± 1.56) was obtained on MS medium supplemented with IAA (1.0 mg/l). Well rooted plantlets were acclimatized and transferred to soil successfully. An assay of the antioxidant potential of the in vitro grown tissues revealed that the antioxidant activity of the regenerated shoots was significantly higher than wild-grown plantlets.