Vegetative Propagation of Piper sarmentosum Roxb.- A Medicinally Important Species

Piper sarmentosum Roxb. of the botanical family Piperaceae is distributed in South East Asian countries, including Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India. The species is used in a number of medicinal preparations in various parts of the world. Recent studies have shown the potential of this species as antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-tuberculosis and anti-spasmodical agent. However, the species has not received much attention to its cultivation aspects. The present study deals with standardizing vegetative propagation technique in P. sarmentosum for further utilization. Effect of single, double and triple node stem cuttings along with pre-treatments of indole-3 butyric acid (0, 500 and 1,000 mg/L) was studied. Further, the effect of retention or removal of leaves from stem cutting was also studied on rooting success. Results revealed that stem cuttings with two nodes were optimum for propagation. Use of 1,000 mg/L IBA as pre-treatment helped in improving sprouting percentage and further plant growth. Also, removal of leaves on the cuttings though did not enhance rooting percentage was beneficial for improving the plant growth. To our knowledge, the present study is the first report on the vegetative propagation of this medicinally important species.