PLANT CELL BIOTECHNOLOGY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

The Rudraksha tree, scientifically known as Eleocarpus ganitrus Roxb., holds significant religious and medicinal value in India, making it a threatened species. This study was conducted to assess the support of the five different media on the in vitro micropropagation of E. ganitrus using nodal segments as explants. The media; Murashige and Skoog (MS), Lloyd and McCown (WPM) Anderson (AM), Gupta and Durzan (DCR) and Gamborg (B₅) were supplemented with antioxidants (citric acid 10mg/l, ascorbic acid 50mg/l, activated carbon (AC) 500mg/l and polyvinyl pyrrolidine (PVP) 100mg/l), BAP (0.0,0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 1.0, 5.0 mg/l)  NAA (0, 1,0, 2 mg/l) to promote plant growth. The optimal proliferation of shoots was attained by combining BAP (0.5 mg/l) and NAA (0.1 mg/l) in the MS medium, with or without CaCl₂·2H₂O (ranging from 1.25 to 10.0 mM/l). The calcium content was assessed accordingly. Elevated concentrations of CaCl₂·2H₂O in the medium mitigated hyper-hydration, with necrosis of the shoot tip notably reduced at 6.5 mM/l CaCl₂·2H₂O.  Healthy shoots were transferred to MS medium supplemented with NAA (1.0 mg/l) to induce root initiation and multiplication. The addition of CaCl₂·2H₂O (5.0 mM/l) resulted in the highest recorded root multiplication. Plants that underwent successful acclimatization (80%) exhibited regular growth patterns under favorable environmental conditions.