Genetic Resources, Conservation and Breeding

The conservation of genetic resources of medicinal plants is an intrinsic factor for detection and further exploitation of new natural products for the benefit of humans and animals. All measures to maintain the biodiversity by avoiding over-collection or habitat destruction are therefore urgently needed. Based on the issues of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), a European Conservation of Plant Genetic Resources Working Group in the field of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (ECPGR-WG-MAP) was established in agreement with the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) in order to stop the drop in biodiversity and to ensure the continued availability of MAP genetic resources. The in-situ and ex-situ conservation measures of the respective species together with a harmonized documentation of botanical, chemotaxonomical and genetic data will be presented and discussed. In the second part of the Workshop the actual state-of-the-art in the use of genetic resources for breeding programmes will be presented exemplarily for Artemisia sp., Hypericum perforatum, Salvia officinalis and Thymus vulgaris. Yield, phytochemical characters, tolerance against biotic and abiotic stress and homogeneity of cultivars are the most important issues, and recommending procedures to optimize the quality of medicinal plants will complete the discussion.