Conventional and Non-Conventional Strategies for Conservation of Medicinal Plants – A Mini Review Qadir Shaista1, Ali Barket1,*, Quadir Rouf2, Fatima Anis1, Chisti Nahidatun N.1, Shah Shaista3 1Assistant Professor, Department of Botany, Government College for Women, M.A. Road, Srinagar-190001, J&K, India 2Research Fellow, Department of Botany, Jamia Hamdard, Jamia Nagar, New Delhi, India 3Lecturer, Department of Botany, Government College for Women, M.A. Road, Srinagar-190001, J&K, India *Corresponding author email id: barketali1@gmail.com
Abstract The medicinal plants have been identified as one of the most important biodiversities and a great treasure bestowed by nature. This biodiversity is constantly being altered throughout the world, both by anthropogenic as well as non-anthropogenic players. Global export of the products obtained from medicinal plants (used both by traditional and modern system of medicine) is exhibiting a declining trend during a couple of decades. The excessive consumption has put a huge pressure on their abundance, sustainability and even threatened the survival of some of the species. Therefore, serious efforts are required at individual, organisational and government level, to protect and conserve medicinal plants and make a judicious use of them. This can be accomplished by adopting different procedures and techniques broadly categorised into (a) conventional method such as in-situ and ex-situ conservation and (b) non-conventional method such as plant tissue culture. This review gives a comprehensive coverage to different ways and means, which can be exploited to conserve the precious wealth of medicinal plants and plant biodiversity in larger perspective. Top Keywords Biodiversity, Ex-situ conservation, Genetic engineering, In-situ conservation, Medicinal plants. Top |