Bacopa monnieri DBM-4: A novel rich source of bacopaside

Jal Brahmi or Water Hyssop, an important prostrate aquatic herb belonging to the family Scrophulariaceae distributed throughout the world, is commonly found and distributed in wet or marshy habitats along the stream and river margins throughout India approximately upto 1,300 m elevation. B. monnieri (L.) Wettst. is native to India, Bangladesh, and Southern Asia. There are at least 12 known members of the class known to grow under the varying soil and climatic conditions. The plant performs exceptionally well in poorly drained soils and waterlogged areas under subtropical conditions. Near-neutral, clayey loam to clayey soils are best suited for its growth. In North India, it can grow in a wide range of temperatures (15 to 40 °C) and soil pH (5 to 7.5). The plants grow faster at high temperatures (30-40 °C) and humidity (65% to 80%) and are cultivated as summer-rainy season crops in North India. Under South and Central Indian conditions, it could be cultivated round the year.  
The name Brahmi has been derived from the word “Brahma” that means the mythical “Creator” in the Hindu pantheon. In India, it has been largely treasured as a revitalizing herb used by the Ayurvedic Medical practitioners for almost 3,000 years ago. The whole plant is used in the indigenous system of medicine as a nerve tonic and for epilepsy and insanity due to being rich in Bacosides is a class of chemical compounds; they are dammarane-type triterpenoid saponins. Elite DBM-4 has average bacoside-A3 (1.57 mg g-1) and bacopaside-II (4.97 mg g-1) in dry herbage. It developed through selection and is trait specific elite accession produce quality herbage rich in saponins. The plant exhibited good growth round the year even under polyhouse / net house conditions and harvested three times in a year under Gujarat conditions. It exhibited the best plant growth under monsoon season (4.807 kg m2), winter season (4.108 kg m2) followed by summer season (4.317 kg m2).

The elite having distinct and unique solitary axillary flowers with 3.4 cm to 4.8 cm pedicels length as compared to 0.5 cm to 1 cm in general and Check. Brahmi is the small creeping herb with the numerous branches having small-tubular, five petaled flowers white-purple in color. Particularly, DBM-4 has whitish purple, while CIM-Jagriti (Check) has purple white color of flowers under polyhouse conditions. It has oval shaped leaves that are formed in pairs oppositely on the stem. In India, plants of B. monnieri bear hundreds of small blue-white flowers throughout the year. The plants’ leaves are succulent, relatively thick and bigger in size plucked from the top ten centimeter part of main prostate branches or stem.
The new selection - DBM-4 was found superior for economic yield (minimum three cuts per year) and quality, therefore, it could be considered as a high return substitute for old germplasm like CIM Jagriti. It also has big leaf size, flower pedicel with whitish purple colour compared to other genotypes.

Explore Further;

Steps Taken by Government for Conservation and Promotion of Medicinal Plants  PROMOTION OF MEDICINAL PLANTS  As per information of the Botanical Survey of India (BSI), an organization under Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change estimated more than 8,000 species of medicinal plants are found in India. The National Medicinal Plants Board ... Read More

MoU Signed between National Medicinal Plants Board and ICAR-National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources  AGRI - NEWS National Medicinal Plants Board, NMPB and ICAR-National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, NBPGR have agreed to conserve the Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Genetic Resources, MAPGRs. An MoU has been signed by the two organisations.The conservation w... Read More

(Source: ICAR-Directorate of Medicinal and Aromatic Plant Research, Anand, Gujarat)