Major Conservation Methods of Medicinal Plants in Sri Lanka

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Major Conservation Methods of Medicinal Plants in Sri Lanka


Sri Lanka is home to a wealth of medicinal plants which have been used by Sri Lankans as the primary source of health care. The majority of these medicinal plants grow wild as natural habitats in most part of the country are degraded, over exploited and destroyed, however, many medicinal plant species face threats to their survival. So Sri Lankan government involve to conservation of medicinal plants. There are mainly three types of method are using to conservation of medicinal plants. 

1. In situ conservation
Simply means conservation of species in its natural ecosystem. In Sri Lanka establishes medical plant conservation areas (MPCA) in in different ecological zones. Those are,

  • Bibila and Ritigala ( Dry zone)
  • Rajawake and Naula ( Intermediate zone)
  • Kanneliya ( Wet zone)

2.  Ex situ conservation
Simply means conservation of plant species outside from their natural habitat. The primary purpose of this is as an insurance policy. The disadvantages of ex situ conservation are that the sample of the species conserved ex situ may represent a narrow range of genetic variation than that which occurs in the wild.

Ex situ conservation methods,

·        Cryopreservation

The storage of seeds, pollen, tissue or embryos in liquid nitrogen. This method can be used for virtually indefinite storage of material without deterioration over a much greater time period relative to all other methods of ex situ conservation

 

·        Seed banking

The storage of seeds in a temperature and moisture controlled environment.

 

 

·        Low temperature germplasm storage

Preservation by under – cooling has recently been applied to plant tissue culture. The objective of this approach is to maintain tissue at low temperatures (-10 to -20 0C)

·        In vitro regeneration

In vitro regeneration include plant / explant growth, maintenance under disease free condition, retention of regenerative potential, genetic stability and ensuring that there are no damage to the live material.

 

3.     03.Information and institutional support

In here,

i.                   The preservation indigenous knowledge and practices in the use of medicinal plants

ii.                 Improvement in the technical capacity to conserve plants

iii.              The enactment of a legal framework on IPR ( Intellectual Property Rights)