Medicinal plants seed standard for sustainable use: A review

Plant propagation through seeds plays a critical role in agriculture and allied activities by serving as the primary unit. For this matter, seed quality parameters of a notified variety of crops have been published through gazette notification from time to time and compiled. Till to date, Indian Minimum Seed Certification Standards (IMSCS) are available for about 150 crops grown in India. However, no such seed standards have been formulated for medicinal and aromatic plants grown by farmers in India and quality of seed made available to the farmers cannot be regulated as envisaged under Seeds Act. Therefore, several attempts have been made to formulate seed standards and seed testing protocols for important medicinal crops cultivated by the farmers of the country. Different studies were conducted in institutes like DMAPR, IIHR, IARI and several other agricultural and horticultural universities from time to time and relevant conclusions were drawn. Those studies/ attempts were made on physical purity, genetic purity, germination capacity, moisture content and seed health status of the seeds of different medicinal species. A number of important and economically acceptable medicinal plants like Isabgol, Asalio, Ashwagandha, Senna, Artemisia, Senna etc. were considered for such study to optimise a minimum seed standard. A protocol was developed for 25 medicinal plants with minimum seed standards which paved the way for trial in the fields. However, field studies have been taken elsewhere including under ICAR-AICRP on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants to standardise seed standards under field condition. With some constraints in the cultivation of medicinal plants and considering the medicinal values of medicinal plants, it is important to take up large scale focussed research studies on different aspects of seeds. An important initiatives was taken by ICAR institutes like DMAPR, Anand; IIHR, Bengaluru and IARI, New Delhi touching vital area of seed research for sustainable cultivation of medicinal plants. In this review a subtle aspect of some seed research has been dealt with which would prove useful for seed quality assurance in medicinal plant sector, notification of a variety under Seeds Act and also the conservation of germplasm in gene/seed bank.