Abstract: Swertia chirayita Buch-Ham. (F. Gentianaceae) is a critically endangered herb mainly found in the north western Himalaya from Kashmir to Bhutan and ...
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ISSN: 2321-7871 th Volume-1, Issue-4, 15 August-2013 Journal DOI: 10.9780/2321-7871
Novel Method Of Bioreactor To Propagate Swertia Chirayita: A Critically Endangered Medicinal Plant Anil Kumar,Shiwani kaushal, Shivam Sharma, Hemant Sood And D. R. Sharma 1,3,5
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Shoolini University, Bajhol, Solan (H.P) Jaypee University of Information Technology, Solan (H.P)
Abstract: Swertia chirayita Buch-Ham. (F. Gentianaceae) is a critically endangered herb mainly found in the north western Himalaya from Kashmir to Bhutan and Khasi hills at an altitude of 1100 - 3300 m. The main chemical constituents of this plant are two bitter principles, viz, ophelic acid, an amorphous bitter principle and chiratin, a yellow bitter glucoside. Swertia Chirayita has traditionally been used to treat disorder of liver, bronchial asthma, reduce fever, chronic fever, anemia etc. The extract of this medicinal herb show activities of antioxidative, antihepatotoxic, hypoglcacemic, antihelminthic, and antipyretic properties which are attributed to amarogentin(most bitter compound isolated till date), swerchirin, swertiamarin and other active principles of widespread use. The current study explored the feasibility of temporary immersion system which was most promising for industrial plant propagation because of its prominent technology in reducing the labor and providing low production cost for obtaining large amount of biomass of Swertia chirayita. Commercial propagation of Swertia chirayita using this system showed 3-4 fold increase in rate of multiplication and biomass increase driven by aeration which was supplied only during dark phase. Keyword: TIS, Swertia chirayita, bioreactor, invitro propagation, multiple shoots INTRODUCTION The plant Swertia chirayita Buch-Ham. (F. Gentianaceae) is a tropical family of small trees and herb. It consists of 180 species of which 8-10 species exist in Indian subcontinent3. It is mainly found in north western Himalaya from Kashmir to Bhutan and Khasi hills at an altitude of 1100 - 3300 m. The main chemical constituents of this plant are two bitter principles, viz, ophelic acid, an amorphous bitter principle and chiratin, a yellow bitter glucoside. The plant also contains resins, tannin, gum, carbonates, phosphates and 4-6% ash, lime and magnesia1,6. A number of workers have shown that the plant contains bitter glucosidal components, chiratin and amarogentin, swerchirin, gentiopicrin, phytosterd and also a number of acid, yellow crystalline phenols and saccharine2,4,5. Chirayita is difficult to propagate on mass scale via seed owing to non-availability of seeds or due to harvesting of plants before seeds mature. The species is, therefore, deprived of natural regeneration. Also, the low viability and germination percentage of seeds and the necessary delicate field handling of the seedlings are some of the factors that discourage agro technology development and commercial cultivation of the species. There is an increasing pharmaceutical demand of the species both, in the indigenous and the world market but lack of large-scale commercial plantations of the herb continues. Destructive harvesting and loss of habitat has diminished the existing populations of Swertia chirayita. The species is among the highly prioritized medicinal plants of India as identified by National Medicinal Plant Board, Govt. Of India and according to the new International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural resources (IUCN) criteria, this priority plant has been designated as critically endangered. The need to develop techniques for its mass multiplication through different regeneration pathways thus, becomes imperative. Since Swertia is having large number of medicinal properties so we need to equip us with new innovative technologies as an alternative method of commercial propagation which is not being used by medicinal plant. New contribution to in vitro technique for medicinal plants needs to be a simplified micro propagation technology and at the same time open up new avenues of challenges. Scientists and Researchers have developed traditional micro propagation method for number of medicinal plant species and many more in pipe line. Pharmaceutical market segment is invariably growing at high pace for manufacturing of drugs. In addition these drugs are made from plants which are valuable source of a wide range of secondary metabolites, which are used as pharmaceutical, agrochemicals, flavors, fragrances, color, biopesticides and food additives. Over 80% of the approximately 30,000 known natural product of plant origin, which are uprooted by pharmaceutical industries from their natural habitat and making them fall in to endangered and threatened species. Modern biotechnology has put the micro propagation industry as the verge of exciting new breakthrough like liquid suspension culture, temporary immersion system using bioreactors and many more7 for achieving production demand. It offers improvement in virtually every area of crop production and utilization, with potential benefits to agriculture the food industry, consumers and the environment. As the world's population continuous to grow it is anticipated that there could be much mouth to feed in the next few decades. Anil Kumar,Shiwani kaushal, Shivam Sharma, Hemant Sood And D. R. Sharma . “ Novel Method Of Bioreactor To Propagate Swertia Chirayita: A Critically Endangered Medicinal Plant .” Science Weekly 1.4 (2013):Online & Print
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Weekly Science
ISSN: 2321-7871 th Volume-1, Issue-4, 15 August-2013
The conventional methodology for tissue culture is not so efficient for producing high biomass volume with all time risk of contamination and limitation in scaling up. So to overcome the problem of conventional micro propagation the technical advancements are needed to be improvised for getting some possible breakthrough in commercial protocols using temporary immersion system which will be most promising for industrial plant propagation because of its prominent technology in reducing the labor. Commercial propagation of Swertia chirayita an elite medicinal plant using TIS showed that when explants with 8 shoots increased to 28 in number in around one month of continuous incubation at 20±10C under 16h light phase and 8 hours of dark phase with aeration which helped to increase the rate of multiplication, growth of culture. However to be cost effective the use of TIS in to production system should be handled by experienced and skilled workers with technical knowhow. It can therefore, be attractive to developing countries with regard to new or expanding plant tissue culture facilities. References 1.Biswas, A. K. and Chopra, R. N., Common Medicinal Plants of Darjeeling and the Sikkim Himalayas (Reprinted). Soni Reprints Agency, Delhi, 1982, pp. 157. 2.Dalall, S. R. and Shah, R. G., Chemistry and Industry. Academic Publishers, Calcutta, 1956, pp. 664. 3.Hooker, J. D., Flora of British India, Reeve and Co. Ltd. 1885, 5,pp. 78-79. 4.Korte, F., and Schicke, H. G., Methods and compositions for rapid in vitro propagation of Swertia Chirata. Chemische Berichte, 1956, 89, pp. 2404. 5.Korte, F., Methods and compositions for rapid in vitro propagation of Swertia Chirata Chemische Berichte, 1955, 88, pp. 704. 6.Nadkarni, M. K., Indian Materia Medica with Ayurvedic, Unani Products and Home Remedies, Popular Prakashan, Mumbai, 1 1976. 7.Lyam, P. T., Musa, M. L., Jamaleddine, Z. O., Okere, U. A. and Odofin, W. T., The Potential of Temporary Immersion Bioreactors (TIBs) in Meeting Crop Production Demand in Nigeria. Journal of Biology and Life Science, 2012, 3(1), 66-86 PICTURES
TIS with Swertia Chirayita Number of shoot: 17 Time of incubation: 17 days
TIS with Swertia Chirayita Number of shoot: 8
TIS with Swertia Chirayita Number of shoot: 28 Time of incubation: 32 days
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