Biodiversity Conservation and Medicinal Plants

Prepared by,
Dr. Preeti D. Verma
Lecturer, Department of Pharmacognosy,
L. M. College of Pharmacy, Ahmedabad.

Preparedforacademic purpose only
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• BiodiversityConservationAct 2016.
• “Biodiversityconservationrefers to the
protection,upliftment,and
management of biodiversityin order to
derivesustainablebenefits for present
and future generations.”
• Biodiversityconservationhas three main
objectives:
1. To preserve the diversity of species.
2. Sustainableutilizationof species and
ecosystem.
3. To maintain life-supporting systemsand
essentialecological processes.
• TheBiologicalDiversityAct,2002(BD Act)
was enacted by India to regulateaccess to,
and use of, its biological resources.

Biodiversity in India
• India is floristically rich and is recognized as one of the
twelve mega biodiversity centers of the world, ranking 10th
among the plant resources rich nations of the world and 4th
among the countries of Asia.
• Hence, Institute of Biodiversity Conservation (IBC) has
initiated the development of a project on Conservation and
Sustainable Use of Medicinal Plants (CSMPP).
Preparedforacademic purpose only 3

Importance of Medicinal Plants
• Medicinal plants play an important role in the health care system of
most developing countries.
• They are the most important source of life saving drugs and are best
resources of novel drugs.
• Approximately one quarter of prescribed drugs contain plant
extracts or active ingredients obtained from plant substances.
• Many of the modern medicines are also produced indirectly from
medicinal plants.
• The traditional health care practice is mainly dependent on
medicinal plants collected from the wild.

Threat to Medicinal Plants
• While the demand for medicinal plants is increasing, their survival in
their natural habitats is under growing threat.
• Several medicinal plants have been assessed as endangered, vulnerable
and threatened due to over harvesting in the wild.
• The medicinal plant biodiversity is being depleted due to man-made
and natural calamities.
• Moreover, the indigenous knowledge associated with the
conservation and use of medicinal plants is also disappearing at an
alarming rate.

Threats to Medicinal Plants: Factors Affecting Wild Populations
 The threatsare:
 Degradationof habitatdue to
expandinghuman activity, human
socioeconomicchangeand
upheaval
 Forestdecline
 Destructivecollection/ harvesting
of plant species
 Invasionof exotic species that
competewith native species
(Overtakingof harvestedareas by
invasive species)
 There are different primary and secondary factorsthatpose threat to many medicinal plants.
 Increasedspread of diseases
 Industrialization
 Over exploitation
 Changesin agriculturalpractices,
excessive use of agrochemicals
 Weakening resilience of rootstock/
germplasmto re-establish
 Geneticerosion.
 Naturaland man-madecalamities-
Climate changesand green house effect
due to pollution, etc.
Many of these factors are triggered by
changing climate

Role of World Conservation Union or IUCN
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World Conservation Union (formerly known as the International
Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources i.e. IUCN)
categorized ENDANGERED plant species in “Red List Categories”
based on the detailed knowledge of the population dynamics and
geneticsof the species viz.:
• Rare
• Extinct and Extinct In Wild
• Threatened (Critically Endangered, Endangered and Vulnerable)
• Low Risk (Conservation Dependent, Near threatened and Least
Concern)
• Indeterminate where the data is insufficient.

ENDANGERED SPECIES
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Endangeredspecies of plants which have already become extinct or which are on
the verge/risk of extinction.
IUCNhas classifiedthreatened orendangeredspeciesas:
Begoniatessaricarpa,Saussurealappa
Diospyros discolor,
Mallotuseriocarpus
Ginkgo biloba,Picrrorrhiza kurroa Commiphora wightii,

EXTINCTION: DEFINITION & CAUSES
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“A species becomes extinct when the last existing member of that species dies.
Extinction therefore becomes a certainty when there are no surviving individuals
that are able to reproduce and create a new generation.”

Threats to Medicinal Plants- World Scenario

Conservation Status of Medicinal Plants in India
• 350 medicinal plant species have already been assessed (in 18 States) as
„Red-Listed‟ in India
• In South India alone, it is estimated that about 70-80 out of the estimated
300 medicinal plants are either endangered or threatened.
• 100 of these „Red-Listed‟ species are in active trade (36 „CR‟ species and 67
„EN‟ species)
• Wild populations of many of these species are fast reaching a level of „No
Return‟
• Industry forced to use „substitutes‟ (?) that may be less efficacious
• Rural people losing all-important „Cash Income‟
Hence, there is a necessity to strike a balance between conservation and
utilization of these medicinal plants.

ENDANGERED MEDICINAL PLANT
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Podophyllum hexandrum
Taxus baccataBoswellia serrata
Aconitum chasmanthum
Chlorophytum borivilianum Berberis aristata
PicrorhizakurroaNardostachys jatamansi

CONSERVATION: Meaning
• „CONSERVATION‟ term in general means protection of species and
natural resources, globally.
• Conservation is the process of management of biosphere in order to obtain
the greatest benefit for the present generation and maintaining the potential
for future.
• It is the wise use of natural resources,withoutwastingthem.
• India has one of the richest plant medical cultures in the world. Medicinal
plants that have been used by Ayurveda, Sidda, Unani &Tibetan system of
health care face an uncertain future due to over exploitation. Conservation
is about preventing damage and loss to our cultural heritage.

Need for Conservation of Medicinal Plants
“Conservation of plant resources is of global concern because we don't
know what we are losingand what we will need in future.”
 To meet the requirements of expanding regional and international
markets, healthcare products and needs of growing populations, large
quantitiesof medicinal plants are harvested fromforests.
 In India large number of medicinal plants are extracted from the wild to
meet the increasing demand for raw material needed for domestic
consumption and for export. As a result, the natural sources are rapidly
depleting.
 Hence, there is a need for conservation, cultivation, maintenance and
assessmentof germplasmfor futureuse.

Goal of Conservation of Medicinal Plants
 To support sustainable development of medicinal plants by protecting and
using them in ways that do not diminish the world’s variety of genes and
species or destroy important habitats and ecosystems.
 To safeguard species that are threatened or endangered of their existence.
 Conservation of biological diversity involves protecting, restoration and
enhancing the variety of life in an area so that the abundance and
distribution of species and communities contributes to sustainable
development.
 To maintain the evolutionary potential of species by maintaining natural
levels of diversity which is essential for the maintenance of genetic
variation is essential for long-term protection of a taxon.

Conservation Strategies/Methods
Assignment

Biotechnology has emerged as the most powerful weapon for conservation of medicinal
plants without affecting main features of the plants.
Practice Question: Justify the above statement:

IN SITU CONSERVATION

 In-situ conservation deals with the ‘on-site conservation’ of the wild
genetic resources/genetic diversity in their natural habitats i.e.,
within the ecosystem to which it is adapted.
 Thus in situ conservation refers protecting the medicinally
endangered plant species in protection zones and areas of high
biologicaldiversity, e.g. Forests, etc.

The key operational steps for establishing in situ methods for conservation of
prioritized medicinal plants include:
Threat assessment, establishment of a network of medicinal plant forest reserves,
involving local stakeholders, botanical, ecological, trade and ethno-medical surveys,
assessing intra-specific variability of prioritized species, designing species recovery
programmes, etc.
Conclusively, no in situ conservation project can succeed without the complete
cooperation and involvement of local people.

IN SITU CONSERVATION: Biosphere Reserve
DEFINITION:
A Biosphere Reserve is a unique and
representative ecosystem/area of terrestrial
and coastal areas which are internationally
recognized, within the framework of UNESCO’s
Man and Biosphere (MAB) programme, and help
in promoting solutions to reconcile the
conservation of biodiversity with its sustainable
use.

IN SITU CONSERVATION: Biosphere Reserve
• The biosphere reserve should fulfill the following three objectives:
 In-situ conservation of biodiversity of natural and semi-natural ecosystems and
landscapes
 Contribution to sustainable economic development of the human population
living within and around the Biosphere Reserve.
 Provide facilities for long term ecological studies, environmental education and
training and research and monitoring.

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UNESCO - World Network of Biosphere Reserves or
BIOSPHERE RESERVE NETWORK
The idea of the biosphere reserve was initiated by United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1974 under the Man and
Biosphere (MAB) Programme.
The objective of the programme was to obtain international cooperation for the
conservation of the biospheres i.e. Establishing a coordinated World Network of
sites representing the main ecosystems of the planet in which genetic resources
would be protected, and where research on ecosystems as well as monitoring and
training work could be carried out. These sites were named as "Biosphere
Reserves”.
In the world, there are more than 651 Biosphere Reserves in over 120
countries. (2020 data)

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Biosphere Reserve Network in India
There are 18 Biosphere Reserves
in India. Of these, 11 are part of
the World Network of Biosphere
Reserves.
First Biosphere Reserve: Nilgiri
Biosphere Reserve (Est. 1986)
(Parts of Tamil Nadu, Kerala,
Karnataka)
Largest Biosphere Reserve: Gulf of
Mannar (Tamil Nadu)
Smallest Biosphere Reserve:
Panna (Madhya Pradesh)

IN SITU CONSERVATION: National Parks
 A national park is an area dedicated to conserve the environment and
naturalobjectsand the wildlife therein.
 According to the Indian Ministry of Environment & Forests, a national park
is "[a]n area, whether within a sanctuary or not, [that] can be notified by
the state government to be constituted as a National Park, by reason of
its ecological, faunal, floral, geomorphological, or zoological association
or importance, needed to for the purpose of protecting & propagating or
developingwildlifethereinor its environment.
 In national parks, all private rights are non-existent and all forestry
operations and other usages such as grazing of domestic animals are
prohibited.
However, the general public may enter it for the purpose of observation
and study.

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India'sfirst national park was established in 1936 as Hailey National Park,
nowknown as Jim CorbettNational Park, Uttarakhand.
Valley of Flowers National Park is
an Indian national park, in the state
of Uttarakhand
IN SITU CONSERVATION: National Park
With a count of 104 diverse
National parks in India today,
India has the third highest
number of national parks
in Asia, after China and Thailand.

IN SITU CONSERVATION: Sancturies
A wildlife sanctuary, similar to national park, is dedicated to protect the
wildlife, but it considers the conservation of species only and also the
boundaryof it is not limitedby statelegislation.
 Protection of Endangered Species and Biodiversity
 Species of plants and animals on the verge of extinction are conserved in the
wildlifesanctuaries.
The landowners of a wildlife sanctuary are involved in: Horticulture and farming
enterprises.
E.g. Gir National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary, Gujarat.

IN SITU CONSERVATION: Sacred groves

Definition:
The Sacred Groves comprises of patches of forest or natural vegetation- from a few
trees to forests of several acres-that are usually dedicated to local folk deities.
The sacred groves are important repositories of endemic flora and fauna diversity
that have conserved by local communities in a sustainable manner.
The groves are often associated with ponds; streams or springs which help meet the
water requirements of the local people.
It also helps in the recharging the aquifers. This is a directly leads to protection of
aquatic flora and fauna.
Example - Khecheoprai Lake in Sikkim.

Sacredgroveof Meghalaya

IN SITU CONSERVATION:
Reserved and protected forests
 Reserved forests and protected forest are forested lands where
logging, hunting, grazing and other activities may be permitted
on a sustainable basis to members of certain communities.
 In reserved forests, explicit permission is required for such
activities.
 In protected forests, such activities are allowed unless explicitly
prohibited.
 Thus, in general reserved forests enjoy a higher degree of
protection with respect to protected forests.

Major Reserve Forests of India
No Name State
1 Hanumasagara Reserve Forest Karnataka
2 Begur Reserve Forest Kerala
3 Attappadi Reserve Forest Kerala
4 Sholayar Reserve Forest Kerala
5
Palani Hills Forest
Conservation Area
Tamil Nadu

IN SITU CONSERVATION: Wetlands
 Wetlands are areas of land where the water level remains near or
above the surface of the ground for most of the year i.e. land
consisting of soil that is saturated with moisture, such as a swamp,
marsh,or bog.
 As defined in terms of physical geography, a wetland is an environment
"at the interface between truly terrestrial ecosystems and aquatic
systems making them inherently different from each other yet highly
dependent on both".
 Wetlandsoften host considerable biodiversityandendemism.
 According to world data50% wetlandloss in since 100 years.

India has totally 27, 403 wetlands, of which 23,444 are inland
wetlands and 3,959 are coastal wetlands.
EastKolkata
Wetlands,
a complex of
naturaland
human-made
wetlandslying east
of Kolkata,West
Bengal.

IndiadesignatesSundarban
asRamsar Site:
(internationalimportance
asper RamsarConvention)
Sunderban is the
world's largest single
contiguous
mangrove swamp

Medicinal Plants Conservation Areas (MPCAs)
• Conservation of medicinal plants in their natural habitats is important as
it is the most cost-effective way of maintaining their gene pools while
retainingtheir full natural evolutionary potential.
• Most of the medicinal plants are confined to certain habitats with a
restricted geographic range.
• Their rarity coupled with large scale destructive collection from the wild
has resulted in conservation efforts being initiated by governmental
(National Medicinal Plant Board, NMPB; State Medicinal Plant Board,
SMPB) and nongovernmental agencies (NGO’s) focused on their
conservation and sustainable use.

EX SITU CONSERVATION

EX SITU CONSERVATION is defined as protecting the endangered species
outside their natural habitat, in the form of whole plants, seed, pollen,
vegetativepropagules,genesor DNA, tissues or cell cultures,etc.
 It is an "off-site conservation” involving the process of protecting an
endangered species of plant by removing part of the population from a
threatened habitat and placing it in a new location, which may be a
wildarea or withinthe care of humans.
 While ex-situ conservation comprises some of the oldest, natural and
best known conservation methods, it also involves newer laboratory
methods.

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When to do Ex situ conservation?
This measure is to be adopted when the numbers of a species have
declined so massively that individuals need to be rescued and given
refuge elsewhere.
Purpose:
 Rescue threatened species of plants and animals.
 Produce material for reintroduction, reinforcement, habitat
restoration and management.
 Supply material for various purpose including research
Remove or reduce pressure from wild collecting
Make available material for conservation education and display.

I.
Natural
Ex-situ Conservation

 Botanical gardens are the most conventional methods of ex-situ
conservation, which house whole plants, protected specimens for
breeding and reintroduction into the wild when necessary and
possible.
 These facilities provide not only housing and care for specimens of
endangered species,but also have an educationalvalue.
They inform the public of the threatened status of endangered
species and of those factors which cause the threat, with the hope of
creating public interest in stopping and reversing those factors which
jeopardize a species’ survival in the first place.
EX SITU CONSERVATION: Botanical gardens

 Botanical gardens tend to look after plants in one
of the five categories below
 Rare and endangered
 Species that are needed for the restoration of
an ecosystem
 Economically important
 Keystone species
 Taxonomically isolated species

 There are estimated to be around 1600 botanical gardens
throughout the world and these receive over 150 million
visitors a year.
 The Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI)
was set up in 1987 and its role is to collect and make
available information on plant conservation.
 These botanical gardens are important as it is estimated that
60,000 plant species could be lost in the next 50 years.

 Selecting these species is hard and a number of
factors must be taken into consideration
 Extinction risk
 Suitability of plant for ex-situ conservation
 Value of plant
 Ease of collection
 Funds available
 Chances of success

Some famous botanic gardens/ research centers/ institutes:
INTERNATIONAL
• Royal BotanicalGarden,Kew,England : Largestbotanicalgardenin world
and its herbarium is also largest in world, having 6 million specimen.
• CIAT : InternationalCenterfor TropicalAgriculturelocatedatPalmira, Columbia
• ICARDA : InternationalCenterfor AgricultureResearchinDry Areas locatedat Allepo, Syria
• ICRISAT : InternationalCenterfor AgricultureResearchfor SemiArid Tropicslocatedat
Patencheru,(Hyderabad)India.
• IRRI : InternationalRiceResearchInstitutelocatedatManila, Philippines.
• CITES : Conventionon InternationalTradein EndangeredSpeciesof Wild Fauna and Flora.
The history of botanic gardens can be traced as far back as the Hanging Gardens of
Babylon,built by Nebuchadnezzarin 570 BC (Recreationaland Research).

Some famous botanic gardens/ research centers/ institutes
NATIONAL
• Indian Botanical Garden, Calcutta (Acharya Jagadish Chandra
Bose Indian Botanic Garden): Largest Botanical Garden in India
and its herbarium is largest in India, having 1 million Specimen
• NBRI : National Botanical Research Institute located at Lucknow
(UP) formally known as National Botanical Garden.
• BSI: Botanical Survey of India started working in 1890 and is
connected with plant exploration and writing up of regional
floras and also preparation of flora of India.

Great Banyan Tree, Howrah, India
A single tree's 2,800aerial roots give the appearanceof a complete forest.
Indian Botanical Garden, Calcutta

EX SITU CONSERVATION:
Herbal Park or Gardens/ Herbal Nature Park
 Herbal Parks and Herbal Gyan Kendras have been set up in each
district to educate people about the traditional Indian system of
medicine for generating awareness, preserving gene pool and
production of quality seeds and seedlings for distribution to
farmers.
 Farmers are also being encouraged for ex-situ cultivation and
propagation of medicinal plants to save the natural biodiversity
and Income Generation.

EX SITU CONSERVATION: Herbal Park or
Gardens/ Herbal Nature Park
Example:
• The Ch. Devi Lal Herbal Nature
Park, Yamunanagar district of Haryana state ,
also known as Rudraksh Vatika, is a herbal
park for the preservation of several
endangered Ayurvedic medicinal herbs.
It is run by the Forests Department,
Haryana of Government of Haryana.[

Medicinal Plants Conservation Parks (MPCPs)
 MPCPs conserve the region's medicinal plants diversity through
ex situ conservation measures.
 More than 800 medicinal plant species known to local ethnic
communities are being raised in these parks.
 These ethnobotanical gardens also help in revitalisation of local
health traditions.
 Some of these parks also include herbariums.

Medicinal Plants Conservation Parks (MPCPs)
 They also provide planting material through nurseries to the
public (seed and raw drug centres).
They have the potential to develop into centres of reliable supply
of planting materials and organically grown raw materials (BGCI).
 They engage in training local enterprise development, education
and community outreach programmes.

18 MPCPs have been established by non-governmental
organizations and research institutes in India.

EX SITU CONSERVATION:On Farm Conservation
 On farm conservation involves the maintenance of traditional crop
cultivars (land races) by farmers within traditional agricultural
system.
 It is based on the recognition that farmers have improved and
grown genetic diversity.
 Farmers should be encouraged to continue their land races by
agricultural development policies that enhance incentives to
continueto maintain land races.

EX SITU CONSERVATION:On Farm Conservation
 Given the role of farmers on farm conservation, meeting
development goals such as increased farm income is critical.
 In a recent conclusion study by NBPGR with IRRI, Philippines and
GKV, Raipur in Baster area of MP suggested that on farm
conservation of rice genetic resources is a compliment to ex-situ
conservation in tribal area of Baster Plateau which can be
motivated for maintaining crop diversity provided it is a viable
option.

II.
Laboratory Ex-situ Conservation
of the Germplasm

GENETIC CONSERVATION/ Gene Banks
 Plant genetic resources or gene banks store, maintain and
reproduce living samples of the world's huge diversity of crop
varieties and their wild relatives.
 They ensure that the varieties and landraces of the crops and their
wild relatives that underpin our medicinal supply are both secure in
the long term and available for use by farmers, plant breeders and
researchers.
 In gene bank, plant genetic material is collected and preserved at
normal or low temperatures as whole plant, embryo, mature seed or
tissue meristems or cells and even DNA.

EX SITU CONSERVATION: GENETICCONSERVATION/ Gene Banks
 The National gene bank for preservation of medicinal plant are as
follows:
 National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resource (NBPGR), New Delhi.
 Central Institute of Medicinal & Aromatic Plant, Lucknow.
 Tropical Botanical Garden and Research Institute, Kerala.
• Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnologyat Thiruvananthapuram
Types of Gene Banks:
Field gene bank, DNA bank/Library, Seed Bank, Pollen Bank, Tissue Bank, Cryobanks,
etc.
Methods involved: In vitro storage or conservation, low temperature germplasm
storage,in vitro propagation & regeneration, cryopreservation- tissue culture
techniques.

EX SITU CONSERVATION: Field Gene Banks
 The conservation of germplasm in field gene banks involve: collecting the
materialsandplantinginthe orchardor field in anotherlocation.
 Field gene banks or living collections are the main conservation strategy
used for perennialplants,including:
• Speciesproducingrecalcitrant seeds,little or no seeds
• Vegetativepropagatedspecies
• Species that have a long life cycle to generate breeding and/or planting
material. (long-livedperennials).
• Speciesthat are preferably stored asclonal material

 Advantages:
 Provide a safe place for plants that are unsuitable for a seed bank.
 Provide opportunity for continuous evaluation for various
economic characters.
 It can be directly utilized for the breeding programs
 When displayed, the plants have an important educational value and
can easily be accessed for researchpurposes.
• Field gene banks are commonly used for such species as cocoa, rubber, coconut,
coffee, tuber crops, tropical and temperate fruits, vegetatively propagated
crops, such as wild onion and garlic.

 Limitations:
 Takea great deal of space
 Less genetic diversity than normal seed banks.
Field gene banks cannot cover the entire genetic diversity of
species. It can only cover a fraction of the full range of diversity of
species.
 Difficult to maintain and protect from natural disasters (flood, cyclone,
fire,etc.)
 Susceptibletothe spread of diseases
 Costly method
 Out-breeders require controlled pollinationfor regeneration fromseed.

DNA GENE BANKS
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 Storage of DNA is in principle, simple to carry out
and widely applicable in the lab.
 Genetic engineering has broken down the
crossabilitybarriers.
 Transgenic plants incorporating genes from virus,
bacteria, fungi and even mice are reality now. E.g.
BT-Brinjal
 Such efforts have lead to storage of total genomic
information of germplasm in the form of DNA
libraries.
Limitation: Strategies and procedures have to be
developed on how to use the material stored in the
formof DNA.
Genes/DNA are cryogenically frozen to protect the
genetic variation of a species.

EX SITU CONSERVATION: Seed Banks

Orthodox seeds include for example, Citrus aurantifolia, Capsicum annum, Hamelia patens,
and most grainsand legume types
Some common examples of plants that produce recalcitrant seeds include, avocado, cacao,
coconut, jackfruit, lychee, mango, rubber, tea, some horticultural trees, and several plants
used in traditionalmedicine.

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Seed bank protect genetically endangered species also. The viable seed contains a treasure
trove of useful genes that breeder can use for developing improved varieties of major drugs.

 Preserving the seeds for use later is a long process,
it involves;
 Cleaning
 X-ray analysis
 Drying, packaging and storage
 Germination monitoring
Seed Banks: Process

 Occasionally clean seed is collected in the field
 More often seed is collected still in its fruit
 Seed must be taken from the fruit undamaged
 This reduces bulk and disease risk
 Seeds are often liberated by hand
Seed Banks – Cleaning

 A few seeds are taken and X-rayed
 This is done to see how many of the sample are
empty seeds and find any insect larvae hiding in
the seeds
 The X-rayed seeds are often thrown away
afterwards as they may be genetically damaged
Seed Banks – X-ray analysis

 Drying and freezing the seed increases the time
that the seed will last
 Seeds are dried in cool conditions (15-18°C) with
the relative humidity at 11-15%
 This takes about a month
 The seed is then put into an airtight container and
kept at -20 °C or specified temperature.
Seed Banks – Drying, Packaging and Storage

Pollen storage was mainly developed as a tool for controlled
pollination of asynchronous flowering plants especially fruit-free
species.
EX SITU CONSERVATION: Pollen banks

EX SITU CONSERVATION: Pollen banks
Advantage
 The relatively small quantity of the specimen required for a single
accession.
 Simple: Exchange of germplasm through pollen possesses fewer
quarantine problems compared with seed or other propagules.
Disadvantage
 Pollen storage alone cannot conserve the cytoplasmic genetic diversity of
a species.
 There is need to assess the potential drawbacks of excluding maternal
genes and feasibility of ovule storage and in-vitro fertilization
techniques.
 Effective sample techniques to cover a population or gene pool are
needed.

For conservation of tissue/meristem
cultures,tissueslike (heremeristemor
shoot tip)banksare established.
Advantages:
Germplasm of asexuallypropagated
speciescan be conserved in the form of
meristem.
Widely used for conservation and
propagation of horticulturalspecies.
EX SITU CONSERVATION: Tissue banks
e.g. MERISTEM GENE BANKS

0
in vitro conservation

EX SITU CONSERVATION: CRYOPRESERVATION
Cryopreservation involves storage of plant material at low temp. (-196 °C), in
liquidnitrogenor nitrogen vapor (-154 to -196 °C).
o At this temperature the cell divisionand metabolic processesstop.
Thusplant material can be stored for longer period withoutalteration.
o Cryopreservation of those species that can easily be regenerated into
whole plants is a promising option for the safe, long-term storage of
germplasm.
o Cryopreservation requires limited space, involves very little maintenance
and is considered to be a cost-effectiveoption.

EX SITU CONSERVATION: CRYOPRESERVATION
CRYOBANKS

Digitalis lanata

EX SITU CONSERVATION: LOW TEMPERATURE
STORAGE OF GERMPLASM
88
• Preservation by under-cooling has recently
been applied to plant tissue cultures.
• The objective of this approach is to maintain
tissues at low temperatures (-10 to -20 °C), but
in the absence of ice crystallization. The plant
tissues are immersed in immiscible oil and the
emulsion thus formed can be under cooled to
relatively low temperatures thereby
circumventing ice formation.
• Although good recovery has been reported in
certain species, this has only been achieved
using a temperature of -10° C and for relatively
short storage periods (6-48 hours).

EX SITU CONSERVATION: IN VITRO PROPAGATION
& REGENERATION
89IN VITRO REGENERATION meansre- introductionof plants to theirnatural habitats.
The propagation of a plant by using a plant part or single cell or group cell in a test tube
under very controlledand hygienic conditions is called"TissueCulture".
It plays an important role in conservation of medicinalplants in differentways like:-
• By quickly producingmature plants.
• By producing multiples of plants in the absence of seeds or necessary pollinator to
produce seeds.
• By regenerating wholeplantsfrom plant cellsthat have beengenetically modified.
• By producing plants from seeds that otherwise have very low chances of germinating
and growing etc.

E.g.: IN-VITRO
PROPOGATION OF
QUERCUS
SEMICARPIFOLIA
a)explant inoculation in medium.
b) Contamination free explants having
positive response
c-d-e-f) shoot proliferation and elongation
&shoot multiplication.
g) root induction in next 24 hour

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WHO GUIDELINES FOR CONSERVATION & DATA
ANALYSIS.
1) TO IDENTIFY THE MEDICINAL PLANTS, OUTLINE THEIR DISTRIBUTIONS AND
ASSESS THEIRABUNDANCE.
2) TO ENSURE THAT ANY COLLECTING FROM THE WILD IS
SUSTAINABLE TO IMPROVE TECHNIQUES FOR HARVESTING,
STORAGE AND PRODUCTION.

Bodies:
1. National Bureau of Plant Genetic resources (NBPGR)
2. Botanical Survey of India (BSI)
3. India Council of agriculture research (ICAR) & ICMR
4. Council of scientific and industrial research(CSIR)
5. Department of Biotechnology (DBT)
6. The Botanic Gardens Conservation Institute (BGCI)
7. Department of Science & Technology (DST)
8. Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (IIIM),Jammu, etc.

Thank You
“Solong as this earth is full of nature, the human race is going to flourish”
-Charakasamhita
“Mandoes not have the right to destroy what he cannot create”
-GuruGranth Sahib

Biodiversity Conservation and Medicinal Plants

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