Conventional Genetic Improvement Methods in Medicinal and Aromatic Plants: A Review (original) (raw)

The collection of medicinal and aromatic plants from the wild has been declining during the last decade; therefore it is necessary to develop highly productive cultivars, combined with appropriate cultivation and intensive agricultural techniques. Majority of the improved cultivars of medicinal and aromatic plants under cultivation have been created by conventional selection methods including individual, mass or special selection methods. Furthermore, outstanding results have been reported through hybridization and mutation. Highly productive cultivars of Mentha spicata, Ocimum americanum and Salvia officinalis have been developed through selection. Improved strains of Cymbopogon flexuosus, Melissa officinalis, Solanum laciniatum and Thymus vulagaris through intraspecific crossing resulting in changes in their active agents have been developed. Mutation breeding using physical and chemical mutagens have been successfully employed in Jasminum grandiflorum and Mentha arvensis. Hybrids...