Author(s)

Sakutemsu Lolen Jamir, Chitta Ranjan Deb^*, Nangshimeren Sakutemsu Jamir

Department of Botany, Nagaland University, Lumami, India.

Panax pseudoginseng Wall., a highly medicinal, herbaceous, long-lived plant, grows in the forest litter of shady primary forest. The species is threatened in the natural habitat due to unsustainable harvesting of rhizome for medicine and habitat destruction. The species has very poor adaptive power to the synthetic environment and fails to grow and propagate. Present study was undertaken to develop suitable low cost propagation technique and produce clonal planting materials through rhizome splitting and root cutting. Rhizomes and roots were cut into segments and sowed in the raised soil bed prepared by mixing decayed wood powder, sand and top black soil at 1:1:3 ratios in a shaded poly house. Of the sowed rhizome segments ~55% segments remained recalcitrant to morphogenetic response in the first year of the study and the response improved in the subsequent years. In the third year ~51% rhizome segments responded positively. The horizontal root cuts mostly remained morphogenetically dormant but inclined root cuts exhibited better response. The morphogenetic response from the roots was comparatively very poor compare to rhizome segments. The plantlets formed both rhizome segments and root cuttings were maintained for three years in the bed/pots followed by transferring in the cultivated plots.

Panax pseudoginseng Wall., Macropropagation, Medicinal Plant, Rhizomes Splitting, Root Propagation

Jamir, S. , Deb, C. and Jamir, N. (2016) Macropropagation and Production of Clonal Planting Materials of Panax pseudoginseng Wall.. Open Journal of Forestry, 6, 135-141. doi: 10.4236/ojf.2016.62012.