Standardization of Agrotechniques and Biochemical Assessment of Crataegus oxyacantha in Western Himalaya

C. oxyacantha is a high valued medicinal plant of Rosacea family. It is used to cure cardiac disorder in ayurvedic medicines. A field experiment was laid out in 2004 in CSIR-IHBT farm, by using different quantity of FYM and various spacing. Low growth in plant height was observed in first five years with higher dose of FYM, but in 2015 the significant height growth was recorded. From 2008 to 2015 all types of FYM applications produced statistically significant yield of seed production except in 2012 and 2014. The 22.50t/ha was the most statistically significant dose of FYM in relation to seed yield. The spacing did not produce any significant results for seed production. A vegetative propagation trial of C. oxyacantha was also laid out using semi hard stem cuttings and some selected hormones (IAA, IBA, GA3 and Abscisic acid) with different concentrations. Statistically significant shoot sprouting (78.35%) was recorded when IBA of 1000 mg/L was used followed by 67.74% in case of 1500 mg/L of the same hormone. While lowest shoot sprouting (27.85%) was observed using 2000 mg/L of Abscisic acid. A statistically significant 5.67 cm and 5.33 cm shoot lengths were observed using 2000 mg/L of IAA and 1000 mg/L of IBA, respectively. In the case of shoot tillers 3.33 was recorded in 1500 mg/l. of IAA. Two new compounds and 9 known compounds were isolated from fruit extract.