Ex situ conservation of medicinal and aromatic plants in Bharsar, Uttarakhand, India

Medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) are vital substrate for human health. Commercialization of MAPs threatened their status in natural habitat including Himalayan regionand conservation along with sustainable use of such resources is a challenge. To overcome this challenge in situ and ex situ conservation techniques are underway. Establishment of gene banks is an effective technique to conserve such important MAPs. Therefore, a field gene bank established to conserve temperate MAPs in Bharsar, Pauri Garhwal, Uttarakhand. We could conserve >50 species here, many of them belongs to RET categories. The germplasm conserved here is being used for characterization and formulations of crop descriptors especially in RETspecies. Potential species for income generation are being multiplied for large scale cultivation and information are being collected for rapid multiplication behavior, seed maturation time, harvesting period, germination behavior. Such gene bank will be helpful to conserve threatened MAPs diversity of the region, awareness among the peoples, and augment the supply of quality planting material of potential species to interested growers.