Abstract:
Plumbago indica L. (Ratnetol) is commonly known as rose coloured leadwort and widely used in
traditional medicinal systems worldwide. Plumbagin is the main bioactive compound responsible for
its pharmaceutical value. The amounts of Plumbagin present in roots of eight months old field-grown
conventionally propagated plants (23.53 ± 6.54 µg/mL) was higher than roots of field-grown in vitro
propagated plants (12.90 ± 2.96 µg/mL), callus which induced from inter nodal explants on Murashige
and skoog (MS) medium supplemented with 2.5 mg/L 6-Benzylaminopurine (BAP) and 1.5 mg/L 1-
Naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) (0.009 ± 0.00 µg/mL), cell culture pellet (0.015 ± 0.01 µg/mL) and
supernatant extracts (4.23 ± 2.07 µg/mL) which obtained from three weeks old cell culture on MS
medium supplemented with 2.5 mg/L 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), 1.5 mg/L Indol-3-acetic
acid (IAA) and 1.0 mg/L NAA. Acclimatized two months old in vitro propagated plants showed 100%
survival in all provinces. However, plants that grown in Sabaragamuwa province showed the highest
mean plant height and Plumbagin content (104.60 ± 8.35 cm, 42.90 ± 3.25 µg/mL ) when compared
with Western ( 94.40 ± 6.50 cm, 35.81 ± 3.78 µg/mL), North Central (34.40 ± 7.96 cm, 17.29 ± 5.23
µg/mL) and North Western (84.00 ± 6.32 cm, 27.57 ± 4.00 µg/mL) provinces. Plants were watered in
two days interval and exposed to natural environmental condition in particular area. Root extract of
conventionally propagated plants showed a higher number of phytochemicals (16) while roots of in
vitro propagated plants indicated the presence of only four chemical compounds. Callus extract showed
the presence of one compound. However, the cell culture pellet was evident with nine compounds while
cell culture supernatant only contained three compounds. The present study suggested that,
conventionally propagated P. indica L. is an excellent source of several medicinally important
phytochemicals. However, it is also possible to use different in vitro techniques that can be used
effectively for to obtain phytochemicals in order to reduce the over exploitation of P. indica grown in
nature and overcome the limitations associated with conventional plant cultivation.
