Cultivation of aromatic species gives scope toimprove the quality of the drugs. Specialty materials such as essential oils,pharmaceuticals, colorants, dyes, cosmetics and biocides are obtained fromplants. Many species of aromatic plants are cultivated for such industrialuses, but most are still wild collected. The need for renewable sources ofindustrial products as well as the need to protect plant biodiversity createsan opportunity for farmers to produce such crops.
Aromatic plants possess odorous volatilesubstances which occur as essential oil, gum exudate, balsam and oleoresin inone or more parts, namely, root, wood, bark, stem, foliage, flower seed andfruit. The characteristic aroma is due to a variety of complex chemicalcompounds. The term essential oil is similar to fragrance or perfumes because thesefragrances are oily in nature and they represent the essence or the activeconstituents of the plants. Essential oils and aroma chemicals constitute amajor group of industrial products.
These plant materials continue to play positiveroles in human life, as sources of modern pharmaceuticals to treat medicalproblems, as herbs and spices to tempt the palate, and in a multitude of otherapplications. Demand and trade for these plant materials initiated globalizationthat spread new ideas and new settlements along with native resentment.
India is rich in biodiversity and host of manymedicinal and aromatic plants which are now being used for various ailments andas nutraceuticals. In India, two major scientific councils are working onmedicinal and aromatic plants. One is Central Institute of Medicinal andAromatic Plants under CSIR which is looking at industry point of view and otheris Directorate of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants under ICAR which is looking atfarmers point of view.
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