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Asparagus racemosus Willd. is an important medicinal plant of tropical and subtropical India. Its medicinal usage has been reported in the Indian and British Pharmacopoeias and in traditional systems of medicine such as Ayurveda, Unani, and Siddha. The multiple uses of this species have increased its commercial demand, resulting in over-exploitation. Because of destructive harvesting, the natural population of A. racemosus is rapidly disappearing, and it is recognized as 'vulnerable' (Warner et al., Some important medicinal plants of the Western Ghats, India: a profile. International Development Research Centre, Artstock, New Delhi, India, 15 pp, 2001). The development of an efficient micropropagation protocol will play a significant role in meeting the requirements for commercial cultivation, thereby conserving the species in its natural habitat. In the present study, in vitro shoot proliferation was obtained by culturing single node segments in Murashige and Skoog's (MS) medium supplemented with 3.69 µM 2-isopentyl adenine and 3% sucrose with a multiplication rate of 3.5. For proper root formation, the in vitro-formed shoot clusters were cultured on half strength (major salts reduced to half) MS medium with 1.61 µM 1-naphthalene acetic acid, 0.46 µM kinetin, 98.91 µM adenine sulfate, 500 mg/l malt extract, 198.25 µM phloroglucinol, and 3% sucrose. On this medium, 85% rooting was observed within 20 d. Following a simple hardening procedure involving sequential transfer of plants to a greenhouse, polyhouse, and shade net, the tissue-cultured plants were transferred to the field where the survival rate was 100%.

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Asparagus racemosus Willd., an important medicinal plant of tropical and subtropical India, is a potent phytoestrogen which is used extensively in the treatment of menopausal symptoms, diarrhea, dyspepsia, and neurodegenerative disorders. The multiple uses of this species have increased its commercial demand resulting in over-exploitation. Consequently, the plant is recognized as being "critically endangered" in its natural habitat. Development of an efficient micropropagation protocol will not only play a significant role in meeting the requirement of planting material for commercial cultivation, but also in aiding the conservation process. This chapter describes the protocol for in vitro propagation of A. racemosus by axillary branching method followed by inter simple sequence repeat marker assay to establish the clonal fidelity of the regenerants.