Variability in starch granular morphology of Tinospora cordifolia: an important species of Indian Systems of Medicine (ISM)

Tinospora cordifolia is an important medicinal plant species known for therapeutic action of starch along with other medicinal ingredients. The starch prepared from the aqueous extract of fresh stems is used in the Indian Systems of Medicines. The plant extract prepared from T. cordifolia is a promising source for the treatment of COVID-19. This investigation explores for the first time, the morphological details of the starch granules and its accumulation pattern along with its variability among the germplasm of T. cordifolia collected from different parts of India. Starch content was 39.80% on dry weight basis and moisture content was about 28.21%. Starch granule recovery based on stem dry weight and starch content ranged from 14.70 to 20.28% and 52.02 to 71.76%, respectively in different starch settling methods. Starch accumulation pattern in the stem was also studied in the species. Even though wide variability in starch granule shapes was observed among the germplasm, majority of the genotypes had starch granules of round or oval shape. Similarly, starch granule size also varied greatly (38.32–88.03 µm) within and among the genotypes. Significantly small sized starch granules (p = 0.05) were present in the genotype, IC 283650 and biggest (p = 0.05) starch granules were present in the genotype, IC 310610. The information generated in the present study will have application in starch industry for the inclusion of T. cordifolia as an alternative source of starch in addition to its use in Traditional Systems of Medicine. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s42535-021-00286-y.