GOOD FIELD COLLECTION PRACTICES (GFCP) FOR MEDICINAL PLANTS

Dr. Vaishali Shripad Balwande*, Dr. Shreya Avinash Jankar, Dr. Amruta Jagdish Rajenimbalkar

ABSTRACT

In modern medicine many drugs derived from extract and compounds from the plant. This trend is attributed to a growing awareness of the harmful side effects associated with many modern drugs. So now a day's exponential growth in demand of herbal plant for medicinal purpose as well as for their daily needs. The increasing demand for natural herbal products creates a need not only for conserving medicinal plants in-situ, but also for their cultivation outside the forest areas. Acharya Charaka describes an excellent design of drug research and given much importance for season of collection (Sangrahaniya Kala/Rutu) along with place (Prashastha Bhoomi) and method of collection (Sangrahaniya Vidhi). The plant should be authenticated before the actual collection. The collection should be done at the appropriate stage of maturity of the plant part to get optimum level of active ingredients. The workers should be trained to select the healthy plants and to collect the plant parts in conservative manner to avoid spoilage and damage to the plant life. The collected material should be sorted and ensured about the absence of adulteration and toxic materials. The data should be maintained at each level of planning and execution of the collection for traceability.

Keywords: Medicinal plant collection, Good field collection Practices, harvesting technique, documentation.