Visit to the Institute of Trans-Disciplinary Health Sciences and Technology

In March this year, dr hab. Katarzyna Bączek – curator of the collection of medicinal and aromatic plants and prof. Zenon Węglarz, employees of the Department of Vegetable and Medicinal Plants of the Warsaw University of Life Sciences, visited the Institute of Trans-Disciplinary Health Sciences and Technology (TDU), Foundation for Revitalization of Local Health Tradition (FRLHT), Bangalore, India. They were acquainted with the Institute’s work in the field of the protection of genetic resources of crop plants, including medicinal and aromatic plants. In particular, issues related to the protection of these plants both “on farm” and in situ. The visit included a short training workshop in the area of ​​the Ghaty Zachodnie mountain range, distinguished by particularly high biodiversity in the field of spice plants, including black pepper. The Indian side presents works carried out within this group of crop plants, in tasks 1.2 and 1.6 of the Multi-annual Program. In particular, the range of diversification of the species examined by us, the possibilities of their conservation in situ and ex situ, and above all the activities related to introducing them to the crop and the necessity to standardize the raw materials extracted from them are presented. The result of this visit was the proposal of the Indian side to establish cooperation in the field of evaluation methods for gene resources of medicinal and aromatic plants (Figures 1 and 2).