Problems, progress and future prospects of improvement of Commiphora wightii (Arn.) Bhandari, an endangered herbal magic, through modern biotechnological tools: a review

<i>Commiphora wightii</i> (Arnott) Bhandari—A Natural Source of Guggulsterone: Facing a High Risk of Extinction in Its Natural Habitat

“…Gupta et al [59] described pollen-stigma interaction as the basis of low seed set. The plant is dimorphic in nature and number of male plants is nature is very limited [60]. Gupta et al [11] reported the presence of only two male plants along with the large population of female plants, thus limiting the availability of pollens for fertilization.…”

“…Arid zone soil is sandy with poor nutrient contents and soil moisture which affects seedling growth, therefore, may lead to low survival percentage [61]. A hard endocarp on seed [9], combined with dry/arid or naturally salty habitat and prevailing drought conditions are believed to be responsible for poor seed germination rate under natural conditions [60]. Prakash et al [12] observed two types of seeds-black and white.…”

“…Since the population differentiation is high, the population continuum has been disrupted, possibly due to over exploitation, unsustainable utilization and other andropogenic activities. Availability of broad base is must for initiating breeding programmes in any crop [60]. Another reason for its population becoming scarce is that, it has never been brought under cultivation [64] till very lately and there has been hardly any commercial cultivation [13].…”

“…Another reason for its population becoming scarce is that, it has never been brought under cultivation [64] till very lately and there has been hardly any commercial cultivation [13]. Due to lack of cultivation, the natural regeneration is almost negligible as compared to its depletion in nature [60].…”

“…The production of seeds through apomixis, bypassing the process of fertilization, would produce plants which have genetically identical makeup. This process ensures the multiplication of plants in nature, however, such a population would be vulnerable to wipe out during disease epidemics and there would be loss of genetic variability [60]. The loss of variability would hamper breeding programmes due to loss of gene pool.…”