Cultivation and Breeding of Medicinal & Aromatic Plants

Population rise, inadequate supply of drugs, prohibitive cost of treatments, side effects of several allopathic drugs and development of resistance to currently used drugs for infectiousdiseases have led to increased emphasis on the use of plant materials as a source of medicines for a wide variety of human ailments.About 8,000 herbal remedies have been codified in Ayurveda.Nutraceuticals / functional foods and perfumery/aroma chemicals from natural sources is the fastest growing sector in the global market of medicine.Diseases like diabetes, cancer, arthritis, asthma, depression and heart ailments are associated with both genetic and environmental risk factors.Single ingredient drugs known as new chemical entities (NCEs) often fail to cure such diseases. The plant secondary metabolites offer significant therapeutic opportunities to address such diseases.Essential oils are highly concentrated, low volume, high valueproducts.They are adjuncts ofcosmetics, soaps, pharmaceuticals, perfumery, confectionery, ice-creams, aerated waters disinfectants,tobacco, agarbathis and a host of related products. Aromatherapy involves the use of essential oils and aromatics derived from plants to cure diseases. The book attempts to make people aware of the potential of medicinal and aromatic plants from all angles and to explore the possibilities to develop new vistas for medicinal plants based industries. The book is written with 15 independent chapters. Almost all the commercially important commercially important medicinal and aromatic plants cultivated in different parts of the world have found a place in this publication. In an introductory chapter on scope and importance of medicinal and aromatic plants has been made to provide useful and complete information on scenario of domestic and international trade. 14 interesting chapters on classification; exports and imports; biodiversity and conservation; ayurvedic medicinal plants; breeding, cultivation of medicinal trees, shrubs, climbers, herbs and aromatic plants; extraction technologies of essential oils, processing, storage and utilization of drugs and IPR issues in medicinal and aromatic plants are discussed elaborately. This will be useful to teachers, students, scientists, nurserymen, pharmacists, physicians, amateur and professional gardeners, and above all progressive hobby growers.