Investigation towards propagation and cosmeceutical application of Athrixia phylicoides DC

Abstract

The multitude of ailments related to human health has become a worldwide open challenge for scholars waged in the field of drug development. Plants have always been a gifted source of alternative medicine for countless disorders. The bush tea (Athrixia phylicoides DC.) is a South African indigenous plant with a diverse range of medicinal properties including cosmetic and antimicrobial properties. This plant has been used in different local communities to treat various ailments. Further, in rural areas it is popularly used as tea by the native people of South Africa. The present study was carried out to evaluate the effects of altered exogenous growth regulators in cutting production of bush tea in two dissimilar seasons. Based on the plant’s traditional usage in cosmetics, the tyrosinase inhibition and antimicrobial potential against the strain Propionibacterium acnes were also investigated. In the propagation study, Indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) was found to have the highest rooting and sprouting percentage during spring, while 1-Naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) was found to promote the highest sprouting and rooting percentage during autumn. Both NAA and IBA improved the number of roots produced compared to that of the control, although not significantly. The addition of exogenous growth regulators is beneficial to obtain significantly more roots per cutting and increase the cutting production of A. phylicoides but did not affect the number of leaves. Although the tyrosinase inhibitory activity was found to be higher in plants from spring as compared to the other seasons it did not compare with the positive control.