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Background Various Asparagus species constitute the significant vegetable and medicinal genetic resource throughout the world. Asparagus species serve as important commodity of food and pharmaceutical industries in India. A diverse collection of Asparagus species from different localities of Northwest India was investigated for its genetic diversity using simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. Results Polymorphic SSR markers revealed high genetic diversity. Primer SSR-15 amplified maximum of 8 fragments while 3 primers, namely, SSR-43, SSR-63, and AGA1 amplified minimum of 3 fragments. Collectively, 122 alleles were amplified in a range between 3 and 8 with an average of 5 alleles per marker. The size of the amplified alleles ranged between 90 and 680 base pairs. Polymorphism information content (PIC) value varied from a highest value of 0.499 in primer AGA1 to a lowest value of 0.231 in primer SSR-63 with a mean value of 0.376 showing considerable SSR polymorphism. Dendrogram developed on the basis of Jaccard’s similarity coefficient and neighbor-joining tree segregated all the studied Asparagus species into two discrete groups. Structure analysis based on Bayesian clustering allocated different accessions to two independent clusters and exhibited low level of individual admixture. Conclusions The genetic diversity analysis showed a conservative genetic background for maximum species of asparagus. Only Accessions of Asparagus adscendens were split into two diverse clusters suggesting a wide genetic base of this species as compared to other species. Overall genetic diversity was high, and this germplasm of Asparagus can be used in future improvement programs. The findings of current research on Asparagus germplasm can make a momentous contribution to initiatives of interbreeding, conservation, and improvement of Asparagus in future.

An efficient protocol for plant regeneration through somatic embryogenesis was standardized using three cultivars of sugarcane (CoJ64, CoJ83 & CoJ86). Callus cultures were established by culturing the spindle segments on Murashige and Skoog medium supplemented with 2,4-D (4.0 mg/L) and kinetin (0.5 mg/L). The embryogenic calli were transferred to different media containing various concentrations of sugars (sucrose 3, 6 % and maltose 3, 6 %), proline (560 mg/L), activated charcoal (2.0 g/L), ABA (2.0 mg/L), cefotaxime (250 ppm) and agar (1.0 and 1.6 %) for optimization of somatic embryogenesis. Embryogenic calli were characterized by their creamy white, nodular and friable appearance. Putative embryogenic calli were further confirmed through histological studies. For shoot regeneration, the embryogenic callus was transferred to MS medium supplemented with BAP (0.5 mg/L) and kinetin (0.5 mg/L). Roots were induced from the regenerated shoots by transferring to MS medium supplemented with NAA (5.0 mg/L) and high level of sucrose (70 g/L). Somatic embryogenesis and subsequent plant regeneration was found genotype dependent. Hardening of the rooted plantlets was done before transplanting to field. The hardened plantlets exhibited good survival ranging from 85 to 90 %.

Protocol for mass propagation, through direct plant regeneration in three commercial cultivars of sugarcane (CoJ64, CoJ83 & CoJ86) was standardized. Cultures were established from the young leaf segments (1.0 -1.5 cm), excised from spindle leaf (Shoot tip), used as explant source, were cultured on different media compositions based on Murashige and Skoog salts. Cultured explants exhibited swelling followed by direct shoot regeneration on media containing NAA, in all the three varieties. The highest frequency of shoot regeneration (87.58%) occurred on MS medium supplemented with NAA (5.0 mg/L) and Kinetin (0.5 mg/L) in variety, CoJ83. Medium devoid of NAA and supplemented with only kinetin did not induce direct shoot regeneration in any of the varieties thus tried. Subsequently profuse rooting of shoots was observed on the same medium and complete plantlets were recovered within 6 weeks. The sugarcane plantlets were acclimatized in greenhouse. The plantlets were hardened and transferred to soil, which exhibited good survival ranging from 85-90%. Tissue culture derived field-grown plants were normal and exhibited faster growth and better tillers. This protocol is a single step method without callus interphase for direct plant regeneration, which can be used commercially for rapid mass cloning of elite germplasm of sugarcane.

The genus Hibiscus belongs to the mallow family, Malvaceae comprising of about 275 species growing in tropical and sub tropical areas. The various species of genus Hibiscus have been used as traditional medicine all over the world. There are numerous reports of their traditional medicinal uses in various countries like India, Nigeria, China, and Srilanka etc. to cure various ailments such as hypertension, cardiac diseases, stomach-ache, urine problems, skin diseases and many more. Based on the historical knowledge, various pharmacological and phytochemical studies on some species of the genus Hibiscus have been done. Nevertheless, there are no up-to-date articles published which can provide an overview of pharmacological effects of the genus Hibiscus. Therefore, the main objective of the review article is to provide a systematic comprehensive summary of traditional uses, phytochemistry and pharmacology of the genus Hibiscus and to build up a correlation between its traditional ethano-botanical uses and pharmacological activities so as to find some advanced research opportunities in this field. The given information on the ethano-botanical uses, phytoconstituents and various medicinal properties of the genus Hibiscus was gathered from the online scientific databases through search in Google, Google Scholar, Science Direct, NCBI, Pubmed, Springer Link, Research Gate by using some keywords as. Besides these websites other published literature and unpublished Ph.D. thesis and M.Sc. dissertation were also consulted. Previously conducted research revealed that the genus contains good amount of phytoconstituents such as antioxidants, phytosterols, saponins, lignin, essential oils, glycosides, and anthocyanins etc. Presence of these bioactive compounds in the crude extracts of the plants make it suitable for various medicinal properties like anti inflammatory, anti-diabetic, anti-obesity, anti-proliferative, anti-ulcer, hypersensitive, hypolipidemic, hepatoprotective, nephroprotective and many more. Additionally, this review article showed that mainly two species of the genus i.e. H. rosa-sinensis and H. sabdariffa have been explored for their pharmacological activities. There are few reports on some other species like H. tiliaceous, H. microanthus, H. asper, H. acetosella. This review highlights the medicinal potential of the plant Hibiscus due to its unique blend of phytochemicals. These phytoconstituents can be further assessed and subjected to clinical trials for their proper validations. Although large amount of the data regarding pharmacological effects has already been added to the existing reservoir but still potential of certain species like H. radiatus, H. hirtus, H. moschetous, H. trionum and many more is not yet unveiled and can be considered as future prospects that need to be worked out.  Graphical Abstract: