Abstract

For in vitro embryogenesis, excised embryos germinate within a week of inoculation on Murashige and Skoog basal medium supplemented with different concentrations of Plant growth regulators, BA (1.0 - 4.0 mg/l) and IAA (0.5 - 2.0 mg/l). Basal medium with BA concentration (0.5 mg/l) and IAA (1.0 mg/l) showed better results than other combinations and was therefore adopted for further studies. The combination of MS + BA (0.5 mg/l + IAA 1.0 mg/l) supplemented with activated charcoal (0.5 - 1.0%) result in optimum growth ofPodophyllum hexandrum plantlets. Comparative chemotaxonomic studies were done to investigate the phylogenetic relationship of different accessions within the Podophyllum species. Chemical profiles demonstrated that all Podophyllum hexandrum accessions collected from different geographical regions are chemically diverse. Chemotaxonomic data showed that chemical characters of the investigated species were able to generate essentially the same relationship as revealed by RAPD analysis. The study has revealed that maximum amount of the podophyllotoxin (5.97%) and podophyllotoxin b-D glycoside (5.72%) was present in the Podophyllum population collected from Keller (Shopian) and Khilanmarg (Gulmarg) area of Jammu and Kashmir, respectively.   

Key words: Podophyllum, podophyllotoxin, quantitative, metabolite, chemotaxonomic.