In vitro callus induction from nodal and leaf explants of Heritiera fomes Buch - Ham: An endangered mangrove

Abstract

Heritiera fomes (an important threatened mangrove) belongs to the family Sterculiaceae, is well known to be used as folk medicine for curing heart diseases, diabetes, pain, diarrhoea, skin disorders and hepatic disorders. Moreover, the ethanolic extract of stem bark had been reported to have the properties like antioxidant, lipoxygenase inhibitory, antihyperglycemic, antinociceptive effects and antibacterial activities. Being an important species, its multiplication is must. But in general, its multiplication through seeds is difficult due to having problems of seed collection, habitat type, seed viability and short storage life of seeds. In contrary, in vitro micropropagation could be one of the options. Hence, a study was conducted to investigate the callus induction from nodal and leaf explants of H. fomes under in vitro micropropagation for development of a protocol for future work. The result revealed that, the MS (Murashige and Skoog) medium containing BAP (2.0 mg/l) + NAA (1.0 mg/l) was found to be the most suitable for callus induction and mass of callus (i.e., fresh weight and dry weight) from nodal explants and the MS medium containing BAP (2.0 mg/l) + NAA (2.0 mg/l) was best for the callus induction and mass of callus (i.e., fresh weight and dry weight) from leaf explants of H. fomes.