Vegetos
(An International Journal of Plant Research & Biotechnology)
Conservation of Asparagus dumosus an endemic medicinal and ornamental plant through tissue culture technique
*Article not assigned to an issue yet
Fatima Huma, Abid Rubina, Perveen Anjum, Kayani Hammad Afzal, Abideen Zainul
Research Articles | Published: 08 March, 2026
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Keywords: Plant tissue culture, Micropropagation, Asparagus, Endemic species, shoot multiplication, In vitro development
Abstract
Asparagus dumosus Baker. is a member of the genus Asparagus belonging to the Family Asparagaceae. The plant is native to only Sindh and Baluchistan, where it is found in sand dunes, rocky terrain, sandy hills, and calcareous hills. In the coastal regions of Sindh and Balochistan, it is regarded as vulnerable. In traditional medicine, its medical use has been documented. Thus, it is essential to create a method to preserve these endangered yet valuable medicinal plants. The preservation of this medicinally significant but fragile plant species in its native environment was aided by the development of a reliable and effective micropropagation strategy. In the current study, the apical and nodal section explants were used to regenerate a vast number of plants. Results showed that the overall growth of shoots from shoot apex was less as compared to the nodal explant. The MS media without hormone did not support the in vitro growth of the plants whereas, the samples are grown in MS media enriched with BAP at 0.3 mg/L and kinetin 0.3 mg/L, yielding 6.42 and 8.36 shoots/explants, with maximum length of 5.55 cm and 8.0 cm respectively. The best results were achieved when MS supplemented with combination of Kinetin and BAP with both nodal and apical explants. Highest numbers of shoots i.e., 13.4 per node with length of 11 cm which was recognized in the concentration of 0.1 mg/L KIN and 0.2 mg/L BAP. Among the nine tested treatments for rooting, IBA 0.2 mg/L proved to be the most appropriate growth regulator which gave about 5 roots per shoot with an average length of 17.66 cm. tissue cultured plantlets were acclimatized in soil, soil with manure and peat moss and 45% of the plantlets grew normally without any morphological change.
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Author Information
Jinnah University for Women, Karachi, Pakistan