The present work was done with the aim to study the effect of rooting mixture and incubation temperature on Ex vitro rooting of Terminalia arjuna, an important multipurpose tree. The nodal explant collected from Ummaid garden Jodhpur was subjected for In vitro shoot proliferation on BAP supplemented modified MS medium. These shoots were In vitro multiplied on BAP (half concentration of BAP used in In vitro shoot proliferation) with low concentration of NAA supplemented medium. The individual shoots from In vitro multiplied shoots were pulse treated with IBA for 10 min. and transferred in different rooting mixture and incubation temperature for Ex vitro rooting. Analysis of data revealed that maximum 62.22% rooting was observed when the plantlet pulse treated with 984.25 µM IBA for 10 min were transferred on bottle containing vermiculite as rooting mixture and incubated at the temperature of 26°C.The optimization of Ex vitro rooting mixture and temperature conditions will be helpful in propagation of this important species rapidly in large scale.

Terminalia arjuna is an important tree of the medicinal and sericulture industry, commonly known as Arjun. It’s bark is rich in secondary metabolites makes this plant highly valuable in medicine industry to treat cardiovascular disease. Overexploitation due to high demand in medicine, low seed germination, limitations of the conventional method of propagation push this plant towards being endangered. To conserve germplasm of such tree species and meet the requirement in medicinal industry, some non-conventional propagation method like micropropagation has been developed. The present work highlighted the effect of three genotypes (G-1, G-2, and G-3) on tissue culture of T. arjuna situated at Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India. In vitro shoot proliferation was achieved on a modified MS medium enriched with BAP + additives. Among the tested genotypes, Genotype -1 showed maximum bud break response (100%) followed by G-3 (93.33 %) and G-2 (86.66%). Further multiplication of these shoots on modified MS medium containing BAP + NAA + additives gave 11.38±0.26 (G-1), 9.44±0.21 (G-2) and 10.22±0.32 (G-3) shoots. In vitro rooting was done by pulse treatment with IBA for 10 min prior to transfer on hormone free half strength MS medium containing 0.1% activated charcoal. Maximum in vitro rooting was obtained in G-1 (80%) followed by G-3 (71.11%) and G-2 (68.88%). In the present study, it was observed that optimum growth in all three genotypes required different doses of Plant Growth Regulator. Thus, by identifying and multiplying the best performing genotypes the gap between demand and supply of such medicinal plant can be fulfilled.

Commiphora wightii (Arnott) is a critically endangered, dioecious plant and commonly known as Guggal. It has tremendous pharmaceutical and medicinal importance. The sex ratio is extremely skewed towards female plants and male plants are extremely rare. Slow growth, poor seed germination and extremely poor regeneration are some of the contributing factors causing decline in its population. The objective of the present work was to study the seed characters in different genotypes to establish the relationship amongst seed germination, seed colour and seed weight. Guggal plants produce seeds throughout the year but seed yield and viability are higher for seeds produced in winter. Total 1643 mature seeds were collected from nine genotypes (C1, C2, C3, P1, P2, P3, P4, P6 and P9) from Deesa (Gujarat, India) in November-December, 2017. The pooled seed weight data showed that average seed weight of black seeds (0.042 kg) was higher than that of brown (0.031 kg) and white seeds (0.023 kg). Seed germination was also higher in black seeds (17.2%) than in brown seeds (5.5%) whereas white seeds failed to germinate. A significant positive correlation was also observed between seed germination and seed weight. The study on percentage of different seed lobes for each genotype revealed that four lobed seeds were found only in C2 (8.9%) and C3 (3.2%), whereas three lobed seeds were produced by C2 (1.1%), C3 (2.3%) and P9 (1.2%). Other six genotypes produced 100% two lobed seeds. The above results indicated that the seed colour and seed weight influence the seed viability as well as germination. Superior genotypes can be selected on the basis of the seed quality for establishing seed orchard and plantations as conservation strategy.

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Terminalia arjuna is an important tree of medicinal and sericulture industry, commonly known as Arjun. It's bark rich in secondary metabolites makes this plant highly valuable in medicine industry to treat cardiovascular disease. It is also used as feeder plant for tasar silkworm (Antheraea mylitta). Over exploitation due to high demand in medicine, low seed germination, limitations of conventional method of propagation push this plant towards being endangered. To conserve germplasm of such tree species and meet the requirement in medicinal industry, some non-conventional propagation method like micropropagation have been developed. The present work highlighted the effect of genotypes on tissue culture of T. arjuna. For this objective, nodal explants were collected from three genotypes (G-1, G-2 and G-3) of T. arjuna situated at Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India. In vitro shoot proliferation was achieved on modified MS medium enriched with BAP + additives. Genotype-1 showed maximum bud break response (100%) followed by G-3 (93.33 %) and G-2 (86.66%). Further multiplication of these shoots on modified MS medium containing BAP + NAA + additives gave 11.38±0.26 (G-1), 9.44±0.21 (G-2) and 10.22±0.32 (G-3) shoots. In vitro rooting was done by pulse treatment with IBA for 10 min prior to transfer on hormone free half strength MS medium containing 0.1% activated charcoal. Maximum in vitro rooting was obtained in G-1 (80%) followed by G-3 (71.11%) and G-2 (68.88%). In present study it was observed that optimum growth in all three genotypes require different dose of Plant Growth Regulator. Thus, by identifying and multiplying the best performing genotypes the gap between demand and supply of such medicinal plant can be fulfilled.