Plant Cell, Tissue and Organ Culture 59: 227–229, 1999. © 2000 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands. 227 Research note In vitro propagation of Valeriana jatamansi R. Kaur 1,∗ , M. Sood 2 , S. Chander 1 , R. Mahajan 1 , V. Kumar 2 & D.R. Sharma 1 1 Department of Biotechnology, 2 Department of Forest Products, University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan (HP), India-173 230 ( ∗ requests for offprints) Received 22 April 1999; accepted in revised form 23 February 2000 Key words: micropropagation, valepotriate, valerian, Valeriana jatamansi Abstract Valeriana jatamansi Jones is an important medicinal plant. This wild herb is being exploited for its roots and rhizomes which contain valepotriates, which are highly effective against leprosy. The aim of this study was to establish a practical method for rapid and large-scale multiplication of V. jatamansi by induction of shoot pro- liferation from shoot buds. The sterilized explants were established on solid medium supplemented with benzyl adenine alone or in combination with indole-acetic acid or naphthalene acetic acid. The buds cultured on nutrient medium supplemented with BA and IAA or NAA formed shoots, which after 3-4 weeks produced roots on the same medium. One hundred per cent survival was obtained on hardening and field establishment of well rooted shoots. Abbreviations: BA – benzyladenine; IAA – indoleacetic acid; NAA – naphthalene acetic acid; MS – Murashige and Skoog (1962) Valeriana jatamansi Jones syn. V. wallichi is pop- ularly known in English as Indian valerian, in Hindi as Mushkbala or Sugandhbala and in Sanskrit as Tagar. It is perennial wild herb indigenous to temperate cli- mate of India and it has been used in Indian herbal medicines as a tranquillizer and sedative (Wagner et al., 1980; Nahrstedt, 1984; Grusla et al., 1986). The therapeutic properties of valerian are attributed to a group of compounds known as valepotriates. The vale- potriates are a group of monoterpenoids of irridoid type having epoxy group and beta-acetoxy isovaleric acids. Commercially produced valerian is obtained by ex- traction from roots and rhizomes of the herb. Conven- tionally the herb is propagated through seeds, despite being the common method of its propagation, it is not an attractive practice, since the seeds germinate slowly and remain dormant for a long time. It was thought pertinent to establish a practical and reproducible method for rapid and large scale multi- plication of V. jatamansi by in vitro induction of shoot proliferation from apical and axillary shoot buds. Plant material was collected from the Botanical Garden of University of Horticulture and Forestry (In- dia). The axillary and apical buds (4 mm–1 cm) were excised from six-month-old plants. These explants were first washed with tap water to remove debris, then with distilled water supplemented with Tween-20. The explants were surface sterilized with 0.2% bavistin (Carbendazim, a fungicide) containing 0.1% Tween- 20 for 6 min followed by surface sterilization with 0.1% mercuric chloride for 3 min and finally washed with sterile water. Explants were inoculated on to MS medium (Murashige and Skoog, 1962) containing 3% (w/v) sucrose, 100 mg l −1 mesoinositol, and BA and IAA or NAA. Three replications were maintained for each treatment and 10 explants in each treatment were evaluated. The media were adjusted to pH 5.8, fol- lowed by addition of 0.8% (w/v) Agar. The explants sterilized as above were cultured in 100 ml Erlenmeyer flask containing 32 ml of medium and closed by non- absorbant cotton plugs. The cultures were maintained under 16 h light provided with cool white fluores- cent lamps (40 μmol m −2 s −1 ) at a temperature of