Quantitative and Qualitative Evaluation of Leaf Essential Oil in Micropropagated Hedychium coronarium - An Endangered Medicinal Plant

Abstract

In India, morever medicinal plants are collected from the forests and are used by industries in the preparation of medicines. Hedychium coronarium or white ginger lily is an endangered plant of family Zingiberaceae. In international market the price of its plant essential oil is $62/1000ml. The high interest for natural treatment of diseases is creating a challenge between demand of plant based medicines availability in markets and the need for biodiversity and conservation of these medicinal plants. Therefore in vitro method is adapted for conservation and secondary metabolite extraction of this plant throughout the year. In the present work, the explant was regenerated on Murashige and Skoog basal media and study was done on in vitro cultures of Hedychium in different lines of growth regulators to estimate the quantity and quality of leaf essential oil comparing with its mother plant. The present protocol reports somaclone rich in caryophyllene and eucalyptol that could be analyzed further for use in large scale production and commercial exploitation.