A research project on the greenhouse cultivation of
Swertia chirayita Buch.-Ham, a popular herbal drug used by the Tibetan people against liver and gallbladder diseases, recently passed the acceptance check by a panel of experts under the auspices of Qinghai Provincial S&T Bureau. The feat was accomplished by researchers from the Lanzhou-based CAS Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology.
The herb is also widely used in some countries, India in particular, to treat fever and skin diseases. It has been registered in the UK and US pharmacopeia. However, due to the overexploitation, its native resources in the wild are now under the threat of being exhausted. As a result in 2002, it was listed as one of the first-grade endangered floral species for medicinal use in India. In spite of world-wide efforts to artificially breed the plant, many problems, the low germination rate in particular, remain to be solved.
Thanks to many years of hard work, the CAS researchers have been succeeded in developing a series of key technologies involving the plant's seed germination, seedling emergence, bolting promotion, flowering and pest control. It is the first success in the world in completing the herb's life cycle in a greenhouse.
According to experts, the success not only fills a research gap in the introduction of an alien herbal drug, but also provides a technical guidance for large-scale breeding of valuable drugs.
