In Vitro Conservation and Cryopreservation of Threatened Medicinal Plants of India

Abstract

Plants are the most important source of medicines and an array of plant species are employed for medicinal purposes – in allopathy, in traditional systems of medicine, and in tribal and folk practices. In most of the cases (~80%), these are collected from naturally occurring wild populations. The growing realization about the adverse side effects of allopathic drugs and “Back to Nature” trend since early 1980s have led to sudden upsurge of herbal medicines leading to escalating pressure on the pharmaceutical industry. However, the pressure of ever-increasing human population and ruthless clearing of forests and agricultural land have led to the depletion of naturally occurring genetic resources, a rich source of future pharmaceutical and other useful products. Though an issue of global concern, conservation of germplasm of wild threatened medicinal species is challenging. Realizing the urgent need to conserve the germplasm of a large number of rare and endangered species of medicinal plants, there has been significant thrust on their conservation by appropriate ex situ conservation approaches. With the application of biotechnological (in vitro) approaches to conventional approaches of conservation, it is expected that many rare and threatened medicinal plant species will be conserved in the near future. During the last three decades, in vitro methods have been used for propagation of many rare and endangered medicinal plants for sustainable utilization and evaluation of their potential uses. The present chapter attempts to assess the current status of application of various in vitro approaches for the conservation of threatened medicinal plants of India.