Bacopa monnieri (L) belongs to the family Scrophulariaceae is an amphibious plant
of tropics and normally found growing on the banks of the rivers and lakes. It is
commonly called as brahmi or jal brahmi in India. Brahmi is considered as the main
rejuvenating herb played a very important role in Ayurvedic therapies. It also has
anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antipyretic, epilepsy, anticancer and antioxidant activities.
The micropropagation protocol of the medicinally important plant Bacopa
monnieri was standardized using nodal segments as explants. They were surface
sterilized with HgCl2 (0.1%) for 3 minutes prior to inoculation on MS media supplemented
with BAP (0.5- 2.5 mg/l); IAA (0.1-0.5 mg/l for shooting,1.0-1.5 mg/l for rooting);
NAA (0.1- 0.5 mg/l for shooting, 1.0-1.5 mg/l for rooting). The best performance
for shoot multiplication was showed in MS medium supplemented with 1.5 mg/l BAP
+ 0.5 mg/l IAA. On this combination the number of shoots per explant was 16 and
average length of shoot 5.54 ± 0.54 cm. But when different concentrations of NAA
were applied along with 1.5 mg/l BAP the number of shoots per explant was 14 and
average shoot length was 3.46 ± 0.43 on media. For root induction, best rooting was
observed with half strength of MS medium supplemented with IAA (1.0 mg/l). In this
combination, it was observed that the number of roots was 12 and average root
length of 2.80 ± 0.09. The present study is a stepping stone for in vitro production of
required active principles of Bacopa monnieri.