Establishment of an Efficient In Vitro Propagation of Cnidium officinale Makino and Selection of Superior Clones through Flow Cytometric Assessment of DNA Content

Cnidium officinale is a valuable medicinal plant cultivated in Asia for its rhizomes. This study reports the in vitro regeneration of Cnidium officinale plants and the induction of rhizomes from microshoots. The rhizomatous buds of Cnidium officinale induced multiple shoots on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with 0.5 mg L(−1) BA, which led to the regeneration of plants within four weeks of culture. After four weeks of culture, the plants were assessed for fresh weight, the number of leaves, the number of roots, and the length of roots to compare the performance of the different clones. The clones with good growth characteristics were selected with the aid of a flow cytometric analysis of 2C nuclear DNA content. The plants bearing high DNA values showed better growth characteristics. Various factors, namely, sucrose concentration (30, 50, 70, and 90 g L(−1)), ABA (0, 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 mg L(−1)), the synergistic effects of BA (1.0 mg L(−1)) + NAA (0.5 mg L(−1)) and BA (1.0 mg L(−1)) + NAA (0.5 mg L(−1)) + ABA (1.0 mg L(−1)) with or without activated charcoal (1 g L(−1)), and light and dark incubation were tested on rhizome formation from microshoots. The results of the above experiments suggest that MS medium supplemented with 50 g L(−1) sucrose, 1.0 mg L(−1) ABA, and 1 g L(−1) AC is good for the induction of rhizomes from the shoots of Cnidium officinale. Plantlets with rhizomes were successfully transferred to pots, and they showed 100% survival.