Vol. 11, Issue 5 (2022)

Author(s):
Bandan Thapa, Suvendu Kumar Roy, Sibdas Baskey, Kajal Mog Chaudhuri and Prajjwal Pradhan

Abstract:
Bergenia ciliata also known as Pakhanbed is an important medicinal plant used in various indigenous systems of Medicine in India. The whole plant is used for medicinal purpose but the rhizome is the main economic part. Developing cultivars with high rhizome yield and quality are the important breeding objectives in B. ciliata. There has been no effort made for germplasm collections and to study the diversity which hindered the pathway for developing high yielding varieties focused on medicinal plants and its improvement. The main objective of the study is to explore the natural population and to conserve its variability. An exploration and collection mission for wild populations of was carried out during 2017 -2021 in the Sikkim and Darjeeling Himalayas. Eight explorations were undertaken for collection and understanding the distribution patterns and population status in a natural habitat and twenty-five accessions were collected and regenerated ex situ for conservation and diversity studies. Morphologically accessions showed distinct variability for Rhizome Yield/Plant (gm), Plant height (cm), Inflorescence/Plant (cm), Leaf length (cm), Leaf width (cm), and Rhizome length (cm). The germplasms will serve as a baseline for increasing yield and quality of B. ciliata.