Curcuma caesia Roxb. is a critically endangered herb belonging to the Zingiberaceae family with economic and medicinal importance associated with its rhizomes. The prime function of epicurzerenone (a sesquiterpene) is to eliminate reactive oxygen species and is, therefore, known to have antitumor properties. In the present investigation, in vitro elicitation of terpenes was carried out on microrhizomes of C. caesia using salicylic acid and jasmonic acid at 25.0 µM and 50.0 µM each for 30 and 60 d. The jasmonic acid treatment did not affect morphology of the cultures compared to the un-elicited cultures. The jasmonic acid treated had similar or less epicurzerenone area% than the un-elicited cultures (23.48%). Even the total terpenoids content was less in the jasmonic acid treated ones than the un-elicited cultures. However, phenolic content was higher than the un-elicited cultures in jasmonic acid treated. Among all the tested elicitations, cultures with 25.0 µM salicylic acid on the 60^th day had the least fresh weight of microrhizomes. Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry analysis revealed epicurzerenone as the dominant sesquiterpene in all the elicited and un-elicited cultures on the 60^th day. Salicylic acid at 25.0 µM level could elicit the highest accumulation of epicurzerenone (32.11%) compared to the other treatments, un-elicited culture (23.48%), and field-grown mother plant (12.43%). Biochemical studies during in vitro elicitation revealed that the protein, ascorbate, glutathione, and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances content increased significantly on the 60^th day; similarly, the superoxide dismutase, ascorbate peroxidase, and guaiacol peroxidase activity also increased at the 30^th day and then decreased at the 60^th day in the 25.0 µM salicylic acid elicited cultures. These alterations in the biochemical parameters showed that treatment with 25.0 µM salicylic acid could induce a significant stress in the microrhizomes of C. caesia, which led to enhanced production of secondary metabolites, including terpenes (0.1649 mg abscisic acid equivalents g⁻¹ dry weight) and phenols (0.1382 mg gallic acid equivalents g⁻¹ dry weight).

姜黄（Cucuma caesia Roxb.）是一种极度濒危的草本植物，属于姜科，其根茎具有经济和药用价值。表草烯酮（一种倍半萜）的主要功能是消除活性氧，因此已知具有抗肿瘤特性。在本研究中，使用分别为 25.0 µM 和 50.0 µM 的水杨酸和茉莉酸，在C. caesia的小根茎上进行了萜烯的体外激发，持续 30 和 60 d。与未引发的培养物相比，茉莉酸处理不影响培养物的形态。经茉莉酸处理的表草酮面积％与未引发的培养物相似或更少(23.48％)。甚至茉莉酸处理过的培养物中的总萜类化合物含量也低于未引发的培养物。然而，茉莉酸处理后的酚类含量高于未引发的培养物。^{在所有测试的引出中，第60}天时添加 25.0 µM 水杨酸的培养物的小根茎鲜重最低。^{气相色谱-质谱分析显示，在第}60 天的所有引发和未引发的培养物中，表草烯酮是主要的倍半萜。与其他处理、未引发培养物（23.48%）和田间生长的母植物（12.43%）相比，25.0 µM 水平的水杨酸可引发最高的表草酮积累（32.11%）。体外诱导生化研究表明，第⁶⁰天时蛋白质、抗坏血酸、谷胱甘肽和硫代巴比妥酸反应物质含量显着增加；同样，在 25.0 µM 水杨酸诱导培养物中，超氧化物歧化酶、抗坏血酸过氧化物酶和愈创木酚过氧化物酶活性也在第 30 天增加，^然后在第 60 天减少^。这些生化参数的变化表明，用 25.0 µM 水杨酸处理可以在C. caesia的小根茎中引起显着的应激，从而导致次生代谢产物的增加，包括萜烯（0.1649 mg 脱落酸当量 g ⁻¹干重）和酚类（0.1382 mg没食子酸当量g ^-1干重）。