Natural Resources of Berry and Medicinal Plants
A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Ecology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2021) | Viewed by 52341
Special Issue Editors
Interests: genetic resources of berry plants; research of biologically active compounds in fruits and medicinal plants; breeding of new cultivars of actinidia, cranberry, blueberry, and snowball tree
Interests: in situ conservation of crop wild relatives; medicinal and aromatic plant genetic resources; biological diversity of essential oil-bearing plants and berries in forest ecosystems
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The ever-growing interest in medicinal, aromatic and berry plants is based on the uniqueness of the natural biological resources necessary to maintain our lives. Worldwide, thousands of species are not only directly used for medicinal purposes, as spice, food, dietary supplements, and cosmetics but are also raw materials for the respective industries and trade. Although the naturally occurring genetic, chemotypic, and ecotypic diversity of most of these species is still understudied, it is evident that they present an invaluable potential for our disposal, which, however, requires a sustainable approach to ensure both the needs of future generations and health of natural ecosystems. Globally, more than half of medicinal and aromatic plant resources are being collected from the wild. Forest medicinal plants and berries are valued especially because they are free of pesticides and other kinds of chemicals commonly used in agriculture. At the same time, to satisfy the ever-growing needs of consumers, a lot of introduced plant species, particularly berry cultivars, rich in biologically active compounds, are being successfully cultivated in many countries (and sometimes even found naturalized), which is particularly important for the sustainability of natural biological resources when facing a global climate change. Research into the genetic diversity of natural berry and medicinal plant resources may reveal their ability to adapt to changing climate conditions as well as promote their in situ conservation and development of new cultivars. Particular attention should be given to the study of secondary metabolites found in these plants, as they not only present major quality indicators of new cultivars but are also important in chemotaxonomy. Today, the use of modern laboratory tools and applications allow evaluating the contents of secondary metabolites and implementing a more focused breeding of medicinal and berry plants and production of more diverse medicines, functional foods, and other products. This Special Issue will highlight the advances in understanding genetic, chemotypic, and ecotypic diversity of berry and medicinal plants and will contribute to the sustainable use of their resources.
Dr. Laima Česonienė
Dr. Juozas Labokas
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- biologically active compounds
- plant genetic resources
- genetic diversity
- natural and seminatural populations
- in situ and ex situ conservation
- non-wood forest products
- medicinal plants
- aromatic plants
- berries
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Related Special Issue
- Natural Resources of Berry and Medicinal Plants Volume II in Plants (17 articles)