Dendrobium, the third largest genus of the family Orchidaceae, is a slow growing epiphyte. The capsules have thousands of micro seeds, but fail to convert into plants in nature due to the low titer of mycorrhizal associations. Dendrobium ovatum is a rare and endemic species of Western Ghats, India. It is therapeutically significant due to the presence of an anticancer bibenzyl derivative viz., Moscatilin. Our aim was to develop a protocol for asymbiotically convert the entire micro seeds of Dendrobium ovatum to plantlets. We cultured micro seeds in modified half strength MS media (Murashige and Skoog, 1962) with and without growth regulators with varied sucrose concentrations. We have achieved non-symbiotic micro seed conversion where, 348 PLBs developed from 10mg FW of spherules in half MS medium supplemented with 0.1mg/l ZN. We also compared here the use of undefined additive viz., 10% Coconut water, where we could generate 342 PLB per 10 mg fresh weight of tissue. Addition of 10% coconut water further accelerated the production of PLBs, within 15 days of culture initiation. We observed here that micro seed culture was the most rapid way of propagating this species. The culture established, generated similar sized micro shoots in one-step process. This optimized protocol has rapid and efficient spherule to plantlet conversion percentage (91%) within 21-25 days of culture initiation. This inexpensive protocol can be used serves as a platform for deriving therapeutically important natural products without destroying the Dendrobium populations growing in the wild.
