Salvia miltiorrhiza (danshen in Chinese) is a perennial plant in the genus Salvia of the Lamiaceae family. It is highly valued in traditional Chinese medicine for the effects of its roots to invigorate blood and prevent blood stasis. Traditionally it is propagated through seeds, root cuttings or stem cuttings. However, propagation by seed often results in large variability, whereas propagation by root or stem cutting comes with low multiplication rate and fast deterioration of product quality. In contrast, micropropagation through tissue culture is a relatively fast system for producing disease-free and true-to-type clonal (and therefore uniform) danshen plants from outstanding genotypes.

    To reduce moisture loss and prevent microbial contamination during the course of culturing, caps with low air permeability are often used, causing the relative humidity inside the containers to increase. Such in vitro culture conditions usually result in plantlets with altered morphology, anatomy and physiology, and subsequently retarded growth. To transfer this type of plantlets out of culture on a large scale requires a long acclimatization period, often at high cost and mortality rates. In order to overcome these drawbacks and achieve the ultimate success of micropropagation of Salvia miltiorrhiza on a commercial scale, TARI scientists have established a large-scale micropropagation system to produce quality danshen. The system involves sterile tissue culture, mass propagation of in vitro plantlets, and in vitro acclimatization. The system reduces vitrification and increases survival rate in plantlets. It is estimated that the system can produce thousands of quality danshen seedlings in a year for large-scale field production. Integrated with good agricultural practices, the system is bound to improve the quality of Taiwan’s herbal medicinal materials.