DEVELOPMENT OF in vitro REGENERATION PROTOCOL FOR Gymnema sylvestre: AN ENDANGERED ANTIDIABETIC MEDICINAL PLANT

Gymnema sylvestre is an endangered medicinal plant having anti-diabetic property. Because of its anti-sweetening property it is popularly known as ‘gurmar’. Due to lack of sustainable cultivation at large scale, excessive collection from natural resources and low seed viability this plant becomes vulnerable. Therefore, large scale micropropagation of high yielding and adaptive elite accessions is very essential. The present study was carried to investigate the effect of different concentration of growth regulators on shoot establishment of nodal explant, shoot multiplication and in vitrorooting. Maximum number of shoots (9.7) and highest shoot multiplication (84.7%) were observed on MS medium fortified with 2 mg/L 6-benzylamino purine (BAP), 0.5 mg/L kinetin and 1 mg/L naphthalene acetic acid (NAA). In vitroroot initiation was obtained on MS medium supplemented with 1.0 mg/L NAA. This efficient in vitro plant regeneration protocol using nodal segments can be effectively utilized for rapid mass propagation of this endangered medicinal plant.