Study The Effect of Seaweed in Swerita Chirayita, an Endangered Herb, for The Production of Secondary Metabolites

Abstract

Swertia chirayita of gentianaceae family is basically found in Himalayas from Kashmir to Bhutan and Khasi hills and it is basically an upright herb. The medical importance of Swertia is also listed in various systems of medicines such as Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha. There are various species of Swertia which are found in India but among those species Swertia chirayita is highly famous for its medicinal values and is also used as a tonic for curing skin diseases and diabetes. Generally the plants available in market are adulterated or even substituted to close relatives of chirayita. There is a high demand of pharmaceutical products both in indigenous and world market but because of low scale commercial plantation the lack of herb continues. S. chirayita is also facing problems of loss of habitat and destructive harvesting which has severely hurt the population of the above mentioned species. Because of its high medicinal importance, the plant is recklessly collected from its natural habitat which already is in its endangered status so in vitro grown techniques is the only alternative for its large scale micropagation and for the production of important medicinal compounds. In the present study, large number of plantlets were produced which are rich in important medicinal compounds like swertiamarin, mangiferin and amerogentin. Best proliferation of shoots was obtained on medium having MS+IBA+KN+GA3 and those in vitro grown shoots were further cultured in different type of growth hormones and seaweed extract and it has been found that metabolites are not accumulated in callus but present in shoots on best combination of 3g/l of seaweed, agar and no sucrose and no growth hormone in concentration 26.65 μg/mg swertamarin, 3.05 μg/mg mangiferin and 1.16 μg/mg amerogentin. So, the following study is quite useful for reclaiming its natural population with quality rich shoot material and provide continuous resource for the metabolite production.