In-vitro propagation, organic farming and comparative phytochemical evaluation of Curculigo Orchioides Gaertn. (Musali)

Abstract

Medicinal plants belong to the oldest known health care products that have been used by mankind all over the world in the form of folklore medicine, traditional medicines or ethnic medicines. But due to the over dependence of herbal drug industry on the plant population, wild source became depleted. Several drugs became endangered while some others had been in the verge of extinction. Musali (Curculigo orchioides) is such a plant which is facing a threat of extinction. These plants can be produced by different methods. The main 2 methods for the propagation of plants will come under the following headings viz; Conventional way of propagation and Non-conventional way of propagation (In Vitro propagation). If a small change in climate and temperature is affecting the chemical composition of plants, then obviously there may be chances for change in the same while propagating it through different techniques. In this study the preliminary analytical profile of the three samples were done in order to know whether the organic and In Vitro variety can be replaced with the wild. As Musali (Curculigo orchioides Gaertn.) is a drug used in several formulations and Musali Khadiradi Kashayam is one among the important one used for the reproductive problems. So the formulation also needs to be analysed in order to know whether the variation in cultivation techniques will affect the physicochemical and chromatographic parameters.