From soil to shelf: challenges and opportunities in medicinal plant research
Keywords:
Biodiversity conservation, Medicinal plants, Pharmaceuticals, Sustainable cultivation, Traditional knowledge, Quality controlAbstract
Medicinal plants played a vital role in traditional healthcare and emerged as a cornerstone in development of modern pharmaceuticals. Increasing global demand for natural therapies, along with advances in science and technology, is transforming the medicinal plant sector. This review highlights emerging trends like DNA barcoding for identifying and conserving medicinal plants, as well as the use of genomics, nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence in medicinal plants. Despite this progress, the sector faces challenges, including biodiversity depletion, adulteration, lack of standardization, weak regulatory frameworks, biopiracy, and climate-related threats. Addressing these issues needs global collaboration to ensure sustainable cultivation, ethical resource use, and effective quality control. The integration of cutting-edge tools with traditional knowledge offers a promising path toward developing safe, effective, and eco-friendly plant-based healthcare solutions.
Downloads
References
Ansari S. 2021. Overview of traditional systems of medicine in different continents. In Preparation of Phytopharmaceuticals for the Management of Disorders (pp. 431-473). Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-820284-5.00017-4
Bhardwaj M, and Alia A. 2019. Commiphora wightii (Arn.) Bhandari. review of its botany, medicinal uses, pharmacological activities and phytochemistry. Journal of Drug Delivery and Therapeutics 9(4): 613-621. http://dx.doi.org/10.22270/jddt.v9i4-s.3256
Chunarkar-Patil P, Kaleem M, Mishra R, Ray S, Ahmad A, Verma D and Kumar S. 2024. Anticancer drug discovery based on natural products: from computational approaches to clinical studies. Biomedicines 12(1): 201. https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines12010201
Das M and Sharma M. 2014. Conservation of some important medicinal plants through seeds. Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences 84: 1558-1562.
Das M. 2010. Performance of Asalio (Lepidium sativum L.) genotypes under semi-arid condition of middle Gujarat. Indian Journal of Plant Physiology 15(1): 84-89.
Das M. 2014. Effect of management practices on yield components and swelling factor of Plantago indica: a medicinal plant. Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences 84(12): 1496-1501. https://doi.org/10.56093/ijas.v84i12.45248
Das M. 2021. Seed germination in some important medicinal plants for seed standards. Medicinal Plants 13(2): 266-274.
Das M. 2023. Sustainability of medicinal plants production through good agricultural and collection practices (GACP). Indian Journal of Arecanut, Spices & Medicinal Plants 25 (1): 32- 35.
Das M, Jain V and Malhotra S K. 2016. Impact of climate change on medicinal and aromatic plants. Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences 86(11): 1375-82.
Das M, Zaidi P H, Pal M and Sengupta U K. 1999. Carbon dioxide enrichment effect on growth and development of some crops. Journal of Agronomy and Crop Science 181: 221-5.
Devan A S and Warrier R R. 2021. Saraca asoca–morphology and diversity across its natural distribution in India. International Journal of Complementary and Alternative Medicine 14(6): 317-323.
Dey B, Ferdous J, Ahmed R and Hossain J. 2024. Assessing deep convolutional neural network models and their comparative performance for automated medicinal plant identification from leaf images. Heliyon 10(1). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e23655
Gangwar M, Goel R K and Nath G. 2014. Mallotus philippinensis Muell. Arg (Euphorbiaceae): ethnopharmacology and phytochemistry review. BioMed research international 2014(1): 213973. https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/213973
Hirapara P, Patel S, Reddy R N, Dutta S, Manivel P, Basak B B and Das M. 2024. Assessment of multi-date Sentinel-2 data for field-level monitoring of isabgol (Plantago ovata Forsk) cropping practices in India. Advances in Space Research 74(11): 5305-5318.
Kalariya Y, Kumar A, Ullah A, Umair A, Neha F N U, Madhurita F N U and Khatri M. 2023. Integrative medicine approaches: bridging the gap between conventional and renal complementary therapies. Cureus 15(9). https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.46033
Kumar P, Lone J F and Gairola S. 2022. Comparative Macroscopic and Microscopic Characterization of Raw Herbal Drugs of Abrus precatorius L. and Glycyrrhiza glabra L. Pharmacognosy Research, 14(1). https://doi.org/10.5530/pres.14.1.14
Mahima K, Sunil Kumar K N, Rakhesh K V, Rajeswaran P S, Sharma A and Sathishkumar R. 2022. Advancements and future prospective of DNA barcodes in the herbal drug industry. Frontiers in pharmacology 13: 947512. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2022.947512
Maulidiani H, Khatib A, Shaari K, Abas F, Shitan M, Kneer R and Lajis N H. 2012. Discrimination of three pegaga (Centella) varieties and determination of growth-lighting effects on metabolites content based on the chemometry of 1H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 60(1): 410-417.
Nayak S L, Saran P L and Das M. 2025. Propagation strategies for conservation and commercial development of root medicinal crops: A review. Indian Journal of Arid Horticulture 6(2): 8-20.
Nazar N, Saxena A, Sebastian A, Slater A, Sundaresan V and Sgamma T. 2025. Integrating DNA barcoding within an orthogonal approach for herbal product authentication: A narrative review. Phytochemical Analysis 36(1): 7-29. https://doi.org/10.1002/pca.3466
Pulice G, Pelaz S and Matías-Hernández L. 2016. Molecular farming in Artemisia annua, a promising approach to improve anti-malarial drug production. Frontiers in plant science 7: 329. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2016.00329
Rai P S, Bellampalli R, Dobriyal R M, Agarwal A, Satyamoorthy K and Narayana D A. 2012. DNA barcoding of authentic and substitute samples of herb of the family Asparagaceae and Asclepiadaceae based on the ITS2 region. Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative medicine 3(3): 136. https://doi.org/ 10.4103/0975-9476.100177
Raju S and Das M. 2024. Medicinal plants industry in India: challenges, opportunities and sustainability. Medicinal Plants 16(1):1-14. https://doi.org/ 10.5958/0975-6892.2024.00001.7
Saran P L, Kumar S, Sarkar R, Kalariya K A, Reddy N R and Das M. 2025. Identification of elite accession of Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera L. Dunal) for root yield and bitterness. Industrial Crops & Products 223:1-8 (120161). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2024.120161
Sarkar R, Nayak S L, Suthar M K and Das M. 2024. Nutraceutical Formulations from Medicinal Plants: A Potential Therapeutic Agent. In Ethnopharmacology and OMICS Advances in Medicinal Plants Volume 1: Uncovering Diversity and Ethnopharmacological Aspects (pp. 391-417). Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore.
Shaman J A. 2024. The future of pharmacogenomics: integrating epigenetics, nutrigenomics, and beyond. Journal of Personalized Medicine 14(12): 1121. https://doi.org/10.3390/jpm14121121
Silpi C. 2025. Nutraceuticals traditional practices, regulatory guidelines, opportunities and challenges. Discover Food 5(1): 191. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44187-025-00437-z
Singh N, Bhalla S, Sharma V, Srivastava R and Verma N. 2025. Nano-driven cultivation of medicinal plants: Exploring biological efficacy and phytotoxicological impacts. South African Journal of Botany 184: 407-418. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sajb.2025.06.015
Singh P, Nayak S L, Sharkar R, Sarkar A, Dutta S and Paul D. 2025. Application of Modern Techniques in Cultivation of Medicinal Plants: A Review. Plant Archives 25(1): 1947-1962. https://doi.org/10.51470/PLANTARCHIVES.2025.v25.supplement-1.267
Sulaiman C T, Jyothi C K, Unnithan J K, K M P and Balachandran I. 2020. Identification of suitable substitute for Sarpagandha (Rauvolfia serpentina (L.) Benth. ex Kurz) by phytochemical and pharmacological evaluation. Beni-Suef University Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences 9(1): 42. https://doi.org/10.1186/s43088-020-00069-5
Tulsi J R and Vidhu A. 2022. Marker-based standardization of Terminalia arjuna bark for the detection of probable adulterants by quantitative high-performance thin-layer chromatography. JPC–Journal of Planar Chromatography–Modern TLC 35(2): 169-179. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00764-022-00177-1
Vadivel V, Anand P, Monajkumar S, Nagalingam V and Brindha P. 2017. Development of chemical fingerprints to differentiate the controversial Indian herbal drugs Eclipta prostrata and Wedelia calendulacea (Bhringraja). Bulletin of Pharmaceutical Research 7(2): 147. https://doi.org/10.21276/ bpr.2017.7.2.5
Wynberg R and Chennells R. 2009. Green diamonds of the South: An overview of the San-Hoodia case. In: Wynberg R, Schroeder D, Chennells R. (eds) Indigenous peoples, consent and benefit sharing. Springer, Dordrecht. 89-124. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3123-5_6
Yang L, Yang Y, Huang L, Cui X and Liu Y. 2023. From single-to multi-omics: future research trends in medicinal plants. Briefings in bioinformatics 24(1). https://doi.org/10.1093/bib/bbac485
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Current Horticulture
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
The copyright of the articles published in CURRENT HORTICULTURE is vested with the Society for Horticultural Research and Development (SHRD), which reserves the right to enter into any agreement with any organization in India or abroad, for reprography, photocopying, storage and dissemination of information. The SHRD has no objection to using the material, provided the information is not being utilized for commercial purposes and wherever the information is being used, proper credit is given to SHRD.
