Variation in colchicine content in tubers of Gloriosa superba L. from Madhya Pradesh for identification of elite chemotypes

Abstract

Gloriosa superba L. is one of the important species being used in many parts of the world in traditional system of medicines. Colchicine is the major active ingredient and an important drug found in the tubers of this species. The variation in active ingredients according to environmental and edaphic factors have been described for many plant species for evaluation of their quality as well as identification of elite chemotypes. The present study is an effort to find out the variation in colchicine content in tubers of Gloriosa superba collected from 14 sites belonging to ten agroclimatic regions of Madhya Pradesh using high performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC). The results showed significant variation in colchicine content which ranged from 0.164 to 0.489% (dry wt.). The accessions of Katthiwada (Alirajpur) were found the elite chemotypes in terms of its colchicine content (0.489%).