Medicinal Plants have gained high demand due to their increasing popularity spread through various alternative systems of medicine. The depleting wild resources of medicinal plants pose threat to their existence. In view of this situation, cultivation of medicinal plants was an important step towards distracting their exploitation from wild. After the standardization of cultivation techniques, extension of this information among farmers is an important step comes to be known as lab to land programme. The present communication gives the insight as to how this programme was initiated and progressed in Jabalpur, Seoni, Bilaspur and Jagdalpur Districts of Madhya Pradesh.

Eighty-five medicinal plant species spread over 42 families were commercially exploited in different forest areas of Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. Fabaceae were the largest contributor contributing 8% of the species. Among the growth forms, trees were found to be the most exploited (37%) followed by climbers, herbs and shrubs. Of the 85 species, 49% of the plants were collected for underground parts (root, rhizome and tuber), and 14% for whole plant. The present study gives considerable evidence for the unsustainable harvesting of medicinal plants. Hence, adequate management measures needed for the sustainable extraction of medicinal plants have been discussed. attempt to propagate this species by air layering.

Sauropus saksenianus Manilal et al., a rare species belonging to the family Euphorbiaceae, is endemic to Kerala State, reported only from two localities, Palakkad and Thrissur Districts in the Western Ghats. Present collection from Ambayathode forest, near Kottiyur (Western Ghats), Kannur District shows that its distribution extends to North Kerala.

An efficient micropropagation protocol was developed for the woody medicinal shrub Embelia ribes using stem explant. The nodal and inter nodal segments proliferate in to luxuriant mass of callus on MS medium supplemented with 3 mg/l 2,4-D and 0.6 mg/l Kn. High frequency shoot and root differentiation was achieved in a single phase culture and was optimized on the medium fortified with 2.5 mg/l BAP and 0.7 mg/l NAA. A mean of 86.1±1.66 shoots were differentiated per callus mass and a mean of 68.4±1.71 plantlets were recovered from 60 days incubated culture. Regenerants plants were successfully acclimatized and 94% of plantlets were survived under ex vitro condition, exhibiting a normal development.

The present study was carried out on the morphological and biochemical variations in the seeds of 13 biotypes of Seabuckthorn, growing in the District Lahaul-Spiti (2600-4100 m asl), a dry temperate Himalayan region of Himachal Pradesh. The color of the seeds of 11 biotypes of Hippophae rhamnoides ssp. turkestanica, the most dominant and widely distributed species of Seabuckthorn, varied from light to medium and dark brown, whereas it was medium to dark brown in H. salicifolia and dull white in H. tibetana. There was a lot of variation in the shape of the seeds. Weight of the 100 seeds varied from a maximum of 1.331 g in H. tibetana to 1.142 g in H. salicifolia and 1.103-0.718 g in the biotypes of H. rhamnoides. Crude protein (CP) content varied from 32.1-19.2% in the biotypes of H. rhamnoides and 25.5% and 20.3% in the seeds of H. tibetana and H. salicifolia, respectively. The total oil content was highest in the seeds of H. tibetana(16.9%), followed by the biotypes of H. rhamnoides (8.8-14.6%) and H. salicifolia (9.4%). There was no definite pattern of different characteristics of the seeds of seabuckthorn in relation to the altitude of the region.

The results revealed that germination and growth of the test crops were inhibited by Ailanthus excelsa and Acacia nilotica leaf leachates. Among the four test crops taken, cowpea was less affected with the inhibition of 5 and 11 per cent in germination, 6 and 11 per cent in radicle length and 8 and 11 per cent in plumule elongation due to the leachates of Ailanthus excelsa and Acacia nilotica respectively. Whereas seasame was severely affected with the inhibition of 24 and 26 per cent in germination, 15 and 29 per cent in radicle length and 18 and 24 per cent in plumule elongation respectively due to the leachates of Ailanthus excelsa and Acacia nilotica. Regarding conditions under which the study was carried out viz., light and dark conditions the allelopathy effect was comparatively not much pronounced under the light condition. The reason for which might be contributed to the assumption that the allelochemicals might have been disintegrated under light.

Premna corymbosa Rottl. is an important medicinal plant used in Indian systems of medicine. It is highly valued for it’s anti-inflammatory properties. Propagation by seed is very difficult in this species as such vegetative propagation is the only method for large scale plantlet production. This paper reports a successful attempt to propagate this species by air layering.

Crop improvement studies on cardamom carried out at the Indian Cardamom Research Institute, Myladumpara during the last decade has resulted in the development of six high yielding selections viz., MCC-21, MCC-40, MCC-73, MCC-85, MCC-200 and MCC-346 and eight promising hybrids such as MHC-10, MHC-13, MHC-18, MHC-22, MHC-23, MHC-24, MHC-26 and MHC-27. Performance assessment of these fourteen genotypes with regard to growth, yield and quality parameters was made and compared with the released clones ICRI-1 and ICRI-2 and also with the popular landrace MCC-260 (Njallani). The hybrid MHC-26 performed the best with a yield of 1896 kg/ha followed by the selection MCC-73 (1886 kg/ha) and the hybrids MHC-24 (1651 kg/ha) and MHC-13 (1441 kg/ha) and these genotypes out yielded ICRI-1, ICRI-2 and MCC-260 (Njallani) which are considered the best yielders in cardamom. With regard to quality parameters MHC-26 exhibited the highest percentage of bold capsules (72.53%) and MCC-73 had the highest volatile oil content (7.33%). Since cardamom is highly cross-pollinated, clonal propagation of these improved lines is suggested to produce ‘true to type’ planting materials. Large-scale planting of these lines is recommended for augmenting the production and productivity of cardamom and also to make its cultivation remunerative.

Kydia calycina Roxb. is a multipurpose tree species and its wood mainly used in toys industries. Seeds usually 3, kidney- shaped furrowed, dark brown and testa is hard. Regeneration in nature is rare due to its hard-coated seed. Keeping this in view, some suitable method of pretreatment to break the dormancy of seed was evaluated. Germination was enhanced from 18.25%(Untreated) to 64.0% by mechanical scarification. Although this treatment gives early, uniform and highest germination but was a laborious process and hence cannot be employed on large quantity of seed. Therefore, sulphuric acid scarified seeds are recommended.

Studies on diseases of medicinal plants were conducted in nurseries and herbal gardens in and around Dehra Dun and Rishikesh. In all 29 diseases were recorded on 17 medicinal plants of which 23 were new diseases hitherto unrecorded in the country. Out of 23 new diseases, 9 diseases namely Rhizoctonia leaf web blight of Rauvolfia canescens and Artemisia sp., Myrothecium fruit rot of Withania somnifera, Sclerotium leaf blight of Gloriosa superba and Spilanthes oleracea, Pseudocercospora leaf spotting and blight of Gloriosa superba, Colletotrichum leaf spot of Tylophora indica, Pseudocercospora leaf spot of T. indica and Rhizoctonia basal rot of Solanum khasianum were recorded from New Forest Nursery, Dehra Dun, 7 diseases namely Rhizoctonia aerial blight of Stevia rebaudiana, Fusarium wilt of S. rebaudiana, Macrophomina charcoal rot of Rosmarinus officinalis, Rhizoctonia leaf blight of R. officinalis, Andrographis paniculata and Mentha piperata and Sclerotium leaf spot of Embelia ribes occurred in the nursery at Munikireti, Rishikesh, Rhizoctonia leaf web blight of Withania somnifera was encountered in the herbal garden at Jolly Grant and the remaining 6 new diseases namely Phoma leaf spot of Clitoria ternata, Rhizoctonia leaf web blight of C. ternata, Alternaria leaf blight of C. ternata, Botrytis leaf blight of C. ternata, Phytophthora leaf blight of Plumbago zeylanica and Fusarium canker of Tephrosia purpurea were recorded from the herbal garden at Vasant Vihar, Dehra Dun. An account of diseases is given.

Micropropagation protocol has been standardized for the medicinal plant Clerodendrum serratum using leaf explant. The synergetic effect of BAP (2.0 mg/l) with NAA (0.3 mg/l) on Lloyd and Mc Cown medium, induced a mean of 8.25 + 0.28 shoots from the leaf callus. The frequency of shoot production was highest (92%). The microshoots rooted well on woody plant medium without growth regulators, as well as on the medium supplemented with 0.1 to 0.5 mg/l of NAA. Regenerated plants were successfully acclimatized and about 88% of the hardened regenerants survived under natural condition.