Acclimatization and Hardening of Solanum torvum (Swartz)-A Medicinal Plant

Author(s): Dr. Ghan Singh Malothu

Abstract:

Acclimatization (hardening) is a crucial step in the establishment of in vitro regenerated plants, ensuring their successful transfer from controlled laboratory conditions to the external environment. Solanum torvum, an ethno medicinally important shrub, was selected to standardize the hardening protocol for improved survival and propagation. In vitro rooted plantlets derived from leaf, shoot tip, and nodal cultures were carefully washed and transferred to micro pots containing different sterilized substrates: red soil, red soil + sand (1:1), red soil + sand + farmyard manure (1:1:1), and red soil + sand + vermiculite (1:1:1). The plantlets were maintained under high humidity in a walk-in chamber (25–27 °C), and polythene covers were gradually perforated and removed over four weeks. Among the substrates tested, red soil + sand + vermiculite supported the highest survival rate (92% in nodal cultures, 78% in shoot tip cultures, and 72% in leaf cultures), followed by red soil + sand + farmyard manure, while the lowest survival was observed in red soil alone. New leaf initiation occurred within six days in the vermiculite mixture, indicating superior adaptation. Acclimatized plants displayed normal morphology, flowering, and fruiting comparable to donor plants. The study demonstrates that a soil mixture containing red soil, sand, and vermiculite provides an effective medium for acclimatization, ensuring high survival rates and vigorous growth. This protocol can be applied for large-scale propagation and conservation of the medicinally important S. torvum.

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