different concentrations of Indole-3-acetic acid, IAA and naphthalene acetic acid,
NAA) resulted in highest rooting. This two- step regeneration protocol utilizes more
than one type of growth regulators i.e. TDZ for shoot formation and multiplication,
and IBA for rooting (Lata et al.2009a). We have further improved and refined the
existing protocol from two step to one step for the mass propagation ofC. sativa.
This one step regeneration protocol, is based on the adventitious shoot induction as
well as an effective rooting using novel aromatic cytokinin, meta-topolin (mT) (Lata
et al. 2016 ). In vitro propagatedC. sativaplants were successfully hardened and
grown to full maturity in soil with 95% survival frequency (Fig.3.9). The regen-
erated plants did not show any detectable variation in morphological or growth
characteristics and were highly comparable with the mother plants in terms of
physiological, biochemical and genetic profile (Lata et al.2009b; Chandra et al.
2010 ). The protocols developed would be helpful for large scale mass propagation
of eliteCannabisvarieties for further use in phyto-pharmaceuticals.
Fig. 3.9 Micropropagation ofCannabis sativa,a–crooted plant under in vitro condition and
dwell acclimatized plants in climatic controlled growing room
3 Cannabis sativaL.: Botany and Horticulture 93