In vitro micropropagation and flowering in Ipomoea sepiaria Roxb. An important ethanomedicinal plant

Objective: To standardize a protocol for the micropropagation and in vitro flowering of Ipomoea sepiaria (I. sepiaria), an important ethanomedicinal plant. Methods: The nodal cuttings were cultured on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with various concentrations of 6-benzyladenine (BA) or Kinetin (Kn; 1.0–4.0 mg/L) alone or in combination with α-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA; 0.2–1.0 mg/L) for shoot proliferation. For rooting ½ MS medium supplemented with indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) or NAA (0.5–3.0 mg/L) was used. When the 45-day-old in vitro derived nodal cuttings were subcultured on MS medium supplemented with 3.0 mg/L BA and 0.5 mg/L NAA and various concentrations of abscisic acid (ABA; 0.5–3.0 mg/L), in vitro flowering was observed. Results: The highest shoot induction response in terms of percent cultures responding and number of shoots per explant was observed on 3.0 mg/L BA and 0.5 mg/L NAA. On this medium 100% cultures responded with an average number of 3.2 shoots per explant. The optimum rooting was observed on 2.0 mg/L IBA. Here 100% shoots rooted with an average number of 5.1 roots per shoot. The optimum in vitro flowering response (38%) was observed on 2.0 mg/L ABA. Conclusion: The present protocol is an efficient method for the rapid multiplication, flowering and conservation of this medicinal plant.