CONSERVATION OF AN ENDANGERED MEDICINAL PLANTTAXUS BACCATATHROUGH AIR LAYERING; A METHOD OFRAPID MULTIPLICATIONSobha and J.S. ChauhanAbstract Taxus baccata is categorized as a highly medicinal but endangered species, due to production of severaleconomically important metabolites. Taxus baccata, a high altitude medicinal plants attract attention recentlybecause its bark and leaves contain an alkaloid, which is the primary origin of Taxol, a vigorous anti-cancerdrug. The formation of adventitious roots during air layering can be induced by various root promotingtreatments and hormones which increase the root length and shoot development. Two plant growthhormones Indole-3-Butyric Acid and Napthelic Acetic Acid (IBA and NAA) with different concentrationhave been used for air layering on Taxus baccata. Each treatment was applied to 20 layers in replicates of 4.All the layers were carried out under uniform cultural practice during the entire period of examination.The experiments were conducted at village Ravigram, Joshimath, Chamoli (Uttarakhand) India. The stemlayers pre-treatment with IBA 1000 ppm was observed most suitable condition for plant multiplication andregeneration in comparison to NAA. Effect of layering time and different concentration of growth regulatorsshows variation in formation of roots and callus. So 80.833% survivability was achieved with 1000 ppm ofIBA and all other best results were obtained with this concentration followed by 750 ppm NAA. |