Abstract:
Echinacea purpurea L., commonly known as purple coneflower, belongs to the
family Asteraceae, is one of the most economically important and popular
medicinal perennial herb presently used in the world ranking beside gingko and
ginseng. The extracts of E. purpurea commonly known as purple coneflower have
been confirmed to have significant immunomodulatory activities by modem
laboratory and clinical researchers. The component obtains from roots of Echinacea
spices have been found to stimulate mammalian immune system and to act as anti inflammatory agents. Recently, because epidemic diseases caused by viruses have
become much more threatening, global demand for products of purple coneflower
has been increasing. The demand for the products of purple coneflower opened eyes
to find attractive methods for the development and the growth of the plant.
Experiment was carried out to find best strength of culture medium for the rooting,
growth and development of E. purpurea in MS basal medium and N6 medium. The
weight of roots formed on high strength (x 1.25 and x 1.00) was relatively higher
compared to the lower strength (x 0.5) while basal N6 medium gave the best rooting
response. Normal strength MS (x 1.00) yielded the highest whole plant weight and
root weight of 1.7469 g and 0.5022 g respectively, while the lowest entire plant
weight 0.8725g and root weight 0.2215 g were in strength 0.25 times than the
normal strength at MS, comparing to all other MS strengths. Both media (MS and
N6) responded similarly on growth and root production of adventitious buds but N6
medium of normal strength displayed slightly higher mass production (0.5883 g) in
roots comparison with MS medium.
