Micropropagation of lippia nodiflora using shoot tip and nodal explants under in vitro conditions

Lippia nodiflora (L.) (Verbenaceae) is an important medicinal plant with scanty roots. It has a number of medicinal properties used in treatment of diseases such as chronic indolent ulcers, gastrointestinal and respiratory ailments and diabetes, etc. Nodes and shoot tips were used as the explants for the initiation of multiple shoots and cultured on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with cytokinin namely Benzyladenine (BA) and Kinetin (KIN).The maximum number of shoots were produced in BA 3.0 mg/l. An average of 14.66 ±1.30 shoots was produced from each explant. Healthy shoots were transferred to rooting medium with half and full strength MS medium supplemented with IBA and IAA at different concentrations such as 0.1, 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 mg/l. Half strength MS medium containing IBA of 1.0 mg/l produced the maximum number of roots (10.3 ± 4.00). Rooted plants were hardened and those grown in sand: cocopith (1:1) showed good response than others.