ISSN 2736-1756
Advanced Journal of Microbiology Research Vol. 2006
Available online at http://internationalscholarsjournals.org/journal/ajmr
© 2006 International Scholars Journals
Short Communication
Clonal propagation of Pelargonium sidoides: A threatened medicinal plant of South Africa
FB Lewu, DS Grierson and AJ Afolayan*
Department of Botany, University of Fort Hare, Alice, 5700, South Africa.
Accepted 18 November, 2005
Abstract
Pelargonium sidoides is used in herbal medicine for the treatment of various infections. Apart from the local uses, the roots are being indiscriminately harvested for local and export trade. A study was conducted to determine the appropriate plant part and the minimum vine length suitable for the clonal propagation of P. sidoides in two separate experiments. In the first experiment, three vine tip cuttings (2, 4 and 6 cm) of the species were rooted in potted experiment in a green house. In the second experiment, ten days old petioles were excised from their mother plants and rooted alongside 6 cm vines length to assess suitable plant part for vegetative propagation of the species. Data were collected and analyzed on various growth and development indices. In the first experiment, the 6 cm vine length exhibited best result for different parameters measured. Petioles gave significant yield difference over 6 cm vine length and generally showed high potential for vegetative propagation in terms of rooting ability and survival rate. The importance of these findings on the propagation and conservation of P. sidoides is discussed.
Key words: Clonal propagation, ex situ conservation, medicinal plant, Pelargonium sidoides, stem cutting.