ABSTRACT:
Safed Musli (Chlorophytum borivilianum) is one of the most commercially important medicinal herbs of India. Present investigation reports on vitrification based cryopreservation of in vitro-grown meristematic dome of C. borivilianum. The in vitro regenerated stock cultures were preconditioned on culture medium with different concentration of sucrose for 8 weeks. Then the meristematic regions of culture were excised and exposed to growth retardants for 24 h. These pre-cultured meristematic domes were again trimmed up to 3-5 mm length and treated with chilled PVS2 solution. These domes were kept in cryo-vials of 5 ml filled with PVS2 solution and then directly plunged into LN, for 1 day. These cryopreserved samples were subjected to rapid re-warm at 38-40°C via water bath for three min. The cryopreserved samples were post-cultured in the dark for three days and then transferred to normal photoperiod regime of 16:8. The mean regeneration rate of cultures was amounted to approx 25% after cryopreservation. Plants developed from cryopreserved samples were morphologically normal.