Journal of Medicinal and Aromatic Plant Sciences

Abstract

Centella asiatica (Mandukparni) is a herbaceous creeping plant of the family Apiaceae. Native to India and Sri Lanka the herb is being used for centuries in traditional Chinese and Indian systems of medicine for boosting mental agility and wound healing in burn patients. It is also being used in several herbal formulations for treating high blood pressure, rheumatism, fever, mental stress, leprosy, bronchitis, asthma and syphilis. In Ayurvedic system, the herb is mainly used as a nervine tonic for relieving nervous anxiety and stress. Various bioactivities associated with this herb are ascribed to the presence of several triterpenoid sapogenins (centellosides) present in the leaves of this plant. Asiaticosides, madecassosides, asiatic acid and madecassic acid are the major bioactive compounds of this centelloside family. Till date, there is no variety available as standardized reference material for C.asiatica. Breeding and selection processes have been carried out at CSIR-CIMAP, Lucknow to develop a strain (CIM-RK-1) with high herb and centelloside yields for commercial cultivation. CIM-RK-1 now christened as CIM-Medha as a new variety has consistently recorded higher biomass and content of centellosides in leaves in field evaluation trials. The potential dry herb yield of this new variety is 11.29ql/ha with 5.36% asiaticoside content in leaves. CIM-Medha is ideally suited for cultivation in northern Indian plains as well as southern regions of the country. The unique purple tinge in centre of leaves and a very high survival rate during winter season due to cold tolerance are the two main distinctive features of this variety.