Rapid Mass Propagation of Salacia Chinensis L., an Endangered Valuable Medicinal Plant through Direct Organogenesis

Background/Objectives: Salacia chinensis L., a high valuable anti-diabetic medicinal plant of Hippocrateaceae family, possess various medicinal properties. Its anti-inflammatory, hepatoprotective and anticancer activities originated from huge number of isolated phytochemicals such as mangiferin and salacinol. Excessive and indiscriminate collection for supplement of global demands has caused classified this plant as endangered species. Establishment of an effective regeneration system for S. chinensis via direct organogenesis as a most reliable method was the main goal of this study. Methods: The explants include leaf, node and shoot tips were inoculated on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium fortified with different concentrations and combinations of Plant Growth Regulators (PGRs) including 6-Benzylaminopurine (BAP), Kinetin (Kin), 1-Naphthalene Acetic Acid (NAA) and Indole-3-Acetic Acid (IAA) for direct regeneration by shoot formation. Findings: The most efficient shoot regeneration in terms of the proliferation percentage (87.81 ± 3.22%), number (5.37 ± 0.02) and length of shoots (3.22 ± 0.04 cm) was obtained on MS basal medium supplemented by BAP (1.0 mg/l) and NAA (0.5 mg/l). The highest frequency in vitro ischolar_main formation (91.33 ± 2.02%) with maximum number of 4.35 ± 0.03 ischolar_mains with a length of 2.47 ± 0.03 cm was successfully achieved in half strength MS medium supplemented with 2.0 mg/l IBA. Application: The established system has this potential to be successfully employed in order to conservation and masspropagation of S. chinensis for commercial utilization.