Towards Safe Conservation of Threatened Germplasm

The Tissue Culture and Cryopreservation Unit (TCCU) at ICAR-NBPGR has been conserving genetic resources of “difficult-to-conserve” plant species (>15,800 accessions), using biotechnological approaches. An important pre-requisite for doing so is development of robust and repeatable protocols for in vitro multiplication, in vitro conservation and cryopreservation. Recently three protocols have been published for conservation of medicinal, rare.or threatened species of

• Bacopa monnieri (L.) Wettst (family Scrophulariaceae), commonly known as Brahmi, widely used in traditional systems of medicine as a memory booster, a potent nervine tonic with antioxidant, and anti-cancer.
• Gentiana kurroo Royle (Family Gentianaceae) is a critically endangered medicinal plant species endemic to North-western Himalayas.
• Ensete glaucum (Roxb.) Cheesman (Family Musaceae), a crop wild relative of banana endemic to north eastern region of India.

Based on the research undertaken, germplasm accessions of these species are now safely conserved in the In Vitro Genebank and Cryogenebank of ICAR-NBPGR, New Delhi.

For publication details visit the urls:

Sharma et al. (2020) Influence of explant types, non-embryogenic synseed and reduced oxygen environment on in vitro conservation of Bacopa monnieri (L.) Wettst. In Vitro Cellular & Developmental Biology - Plant. doi.org/10.1007/s11627-020-10078-9

Sharma et al. (2020) Cryopreservation of shoot tips of Gentiana kurroo Royle – a critically endangered medicinal plant of India. Plant Cell Tissue and Organ Culture doi.org/10.1007/s11240-020-01879-2

Singh et al (2020) Conservation protocols for Ensete glaucum, a crop wild relative of banana, using plant tissue culture and cryopreservation techniques on seeds and zygotic embryos. Plant Cell Tissue and Organ Culture doi.org/10.1007/s11240-020-01881-8

(Source: OIC, TCCU, ICAR-NBPGR)