Development of cost effective propagation techniques for Kothala Himbutu (Salacia reticulata White)

Abstract

Salacia reticulata is a rare medicinal plant, which has great economic importance. It uses as diabetes, anti-inflammatory, rheumatism, gonorrhoea and skin diseases. There is no commercially grown Kothala himbutu and demand fulfill by collecting from natural habitat. Therefore this plant is near extinction from their natural habitats due to severe exploitation and unsustainable harvesting method to meet the heavy demand. So, it is important to develop Kothala himbutu plantation which can get sustainable yield. A series of experiments were conducted on vegetative propagation of this plant. Experimental design was Complete Randomized Design with 05 replicates. Soft wood and semi hard wood cuttings were taken from randomly selected healthy vigorous mother plants and two nodal cuttings were used for the experiment. Cuttings were treated with hormone (Indol Butric Acid (IBA) 1000 ppm, 2000 ppm) and without hormone and planted in sand, sand: coir dust (1:1) and sand: compost (1:1) media. Cuttings were planted according to the treatments and they were placed in mist propagator, single propagator and shade house separately. Number of leaves and number of buds were collected at each environment separately, at weekly intervals and no. of roots, root length and root dry weight were recorded at the end of the experiment The highest mean value of root dry weight and root length were recorded in soft wood cuttings treated with 2000 ppm rooting hormone planted in sand: coir dust (1:1) potting medium at mist propagator environment.