Comparative studies on plant growth yield and chemical compositions among Indian germplasms of Acorus calamus Linn

Abstract

India with its varied soil and climatic conditions possesses rich flora that include about 2500 species accredited with virtues. Of these, about 500 to 600 plants find regular use in Ayurvedic and Unani system of medicines. India ranks good position in the supply of medicinal plants to the industrialized countries of the West, where demand for natural drugs/herbal products has been on the increase in recent years. In observation of this market demand, in the present study conducted to investigate different accessions by collecting, multiplying and characterizing along with optimizing cultivation technique for industrially demanded medicinal plant A. calamus. Twenty accessions of A. calamus were collected from different locations of East, South, West and North Eastern parts of India, representing four bio-geographic zones. The collected samples were deposited at the C. G. Bhakta Institute of Biotechnology, Uka Tarsadia University, Bardoli, India. The geographic location data (latitude, longitude and altitude) for the collection of 20 accessions of A. calamus samples were also gathered and the accessions were multiplied vegetatively through rhizome under 75% shade net nursery conditions at the Uka Tarsadia University campus. newline newlinePlant morphological characteristics such as leaf length, leaf width, total number of leaves per plant and numbers of tiller per plant were studied. Morphological traits evaluated on the rhizomes include length, width, distance between nodes, fresh and dry weight of the different accessions. Ploidy levels of various accessions were tested. The determination of various physicochemical parameters such as total ash, acid insoluble ash, water soluble ash, water soluble extractive value, alcohol soluble extractive value, swelling index, foaming index, foreign matter and moisture content were analyzed by the methods described in the Pharmacopeia of India for standardization of herbal drugs. newline newline newline