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Project of IBER with Agrarian University, Plovdiv

Project "Reproductive potential, metabolic and genetic profile, in in situ and ex situ conditions, of medicinal plants species from the Bulgarian flora with resource deficit - scientific base for their cultivation"

 

The project has been awarded in the competition for financial support of basic research projects – 2018 of National Science Fund (contract КП-06-Н26/6/ 13.12.2018). A partner of the IBER-BAS will be the Agrarian University in Plovdiv.
 
The following valuable medicinal plants of conservation significance for the Bulgarian flora and demanded raw material on the domestic and international markets as sources of biologically active substances, have been selected for study: Alkanna tinctoria (L.), included in the Red Data Book of the Republic of Bulgaria, in the Red List of Higher Plants with the category "endangered species" and in Annex 3 of the Biodiversity Act (BDA 2002) for species forbidden for collection from their natural habitats; Primula veris L.; Helichrysum arenarium (L.) Moench and Arctostaphylos uva-ursi (L.) Spreng., included in Annex 4 of BDA and in the List of Species of Medicinal Plants under special regime of conservation and use based on Medicinal Plants Act /MPA/ 2000, art.10, parag. 1, 2, and 3).
 
On the base of a complex study, the status of the target species populations, their reproductive potential, phytochemical and genetic profile will be determined in order to select the most suitable populations of each species for ex situ cultivation by in vitro and hydroponic cultivation methods.
 
Main project results:
  • Effective approaches for the ex situ cultivation of the four species of valuable medicinal plants with conservation status in the Bulgarian flora will be developed.
  • Ex situ collections of in vivo and in vitro propagated plants under different environmental conditions will be created. The created collections will serve to obtain material to create industrial plantings after the end of the project.
In a long term plan, the following results of socio-economic significance will be resolved:
  • A raw material of four valuable medicinal plant species with resource deficit will be provided for the needs of the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries
  • The natural populations of the studied species of conservation significance for the Bulgarian flora will be preserved.

Project duration: 2018-2021