Effect of Media and Calcium on the Micropropagation of Rudrakhsa (Eleocarpus ganitrus Roxb.)

The Rudraksha tree, scientifically known as Eleocarpus ganitrus Roxb., holds significant religious and medicinal value in India, making it a threatened species. This study was conducted to assess the support of the five different media on the in vitro micropropagation of E. ganitrus using nodal segments as explants. The media; Murashige and Skoog (MS), Lloyd and McCown (WPM) Anderson (AM), Gupta and Durzan (DCR) and Gamborg (B5) were supplemented with antioxidants (citric acid 10mg/l, ascorbic acid 50mg/l, activated carbon (AC) 500mg/l and polyvinyl pyrrolidine (PVP) 100mg/l), BAP (0.0,0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 1.0, 5.0 mg/l) NAA (0, 1,0, 2 mg/l) to promote plant growth. The optimal proliferation of shoots was attained by combining BAP (0.5 mg/l) and NAA (0.1 mg/l) in the MS medium, with or without CaCl2·2H2O (ranging from 1.25 to 10.0 mM/l). The calcium content was assessed accordingly. Elevated concentrations of CaCl2·2H2O in the medium mitigated hyper-hydration, with necrosis of the shoot tip notably reduced at 6.5 mM/l CaCl2·2H2O. Healthy shoots were transferred to MS medium supplemented with NAA (1.0 mg/l) to induce root initiation and multiplication. The addition of CaCl2·2H2O (5.0 mM/l) resulted in the highest recorded root multiplication. Plants that underwent successful acclimatization (80%) exhibited regular growth patterns under favorable environmental conditions.