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The genus Kaempferia comprises 55 species, which are mainly native to the tropics
and subtropics of Asia and Africa. Kaempferia galanga, a high value medicinal and aromatic plant having a wide application in pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries, belongs
to the family Zingiberaceae. The species is threatened due to the ever-increasing
demand for them, overexploitation by the manufacturing sector, destruction of habitat,
and unsustainable harvesting practice (Vincent et
al., 1998). The conventional propagation method takes a long time for multiplication because of the low rate of fruit set,
and/or poor germination, and also sometimes clonal uniformity is not maintained through
seeds. With the increase in the demand for the crude drugs, the plants are being
overexploited, threatening the survival of many rare species. It is imperative that conservation
and multiplication are essential to prevent these species from possible extinction.
Plant tissue culture techniques have been increasingly applied to many medicinal plants
in particular for mass propagation, conservation of germplasm, study and production
of bioactive compounds, and for genetic improvement. Large-scale plant
tissue culture is found to be an attractive alternative approach to the traditional methods of
plantations, as it offers a controlled supply of biochemicals independent of plant availability and
more consistent product quality. In vitro techniques allow rapid clonal propagation, which
may be particularly useful when the species are in the threatened category, where
natural regeneration is slow and a large quantity of plant material is required (Ashmore,
1997). Poor flowering and seed set, coupled with nonviable seeds, make clonal
multiplication through tissue culture the only available alternative for this species. Conventional
method of propagation takes years to produce sufficient number of planting material
for commercial distribution in K. galanga (Vincent et al., 1998).
Published reports indicate that callus cultures were initiated from vegetative
bud explants of K. galanga on MS medium supplemented with 2,4-D and BAP.
Maximum regenerative capacity was exhibited in a medium containing 1.5 mg/L BAP and
1mg/L NAA (Vincent et al., 1991, 1992a and b). Geetha et al. (1997) and Mustafa et al. (1997)
also reported tissue studies in K. galanga. |
