Archives

Aconitum heterophyllum Wall. an endangered medicinal plant contains alkaloids that have
significant antipyretic and analgesic role. An efficient protocol was developed for its mass shoot
multiplication which can meet the requirements of pharmaceutical industries. The most effective
treatment for sterilization of explant was three step sterilization method where 70% ethanol for 30
sec + HgCl2 (0.1%) for 2 min + KMnO4 (1ppm) for 3 min was used, leading to 73.3% of
uncontaminated explants. The MS medium supplemented with 1.0 mg/l BAP, 0.5 mg/l Kn and 1.0
mg/l GA3 resulted in shoot growth of 46.50% with an average number of shoots 2.7± 0.48 and
average shoot length 2.63± 0.35. Six different combinations were used for callus induction and
high frequency of embryogenic callus was obtained in MS medium supplemented with 2.0 mg/l
2,4-D.
Key words: Aconitum heterophyllum, in vitro, growth regulators, callus, endangered