Circular PhytoREVIER: Herbal, aromatic and medicinal plants from the Rhineland

Around 500,000 plant species are used medicinally worldwide, but only 900 of these are cultivated. Against the backdrop of international nature conservation and the security of supply of raw materials, pharmaceutical and cosmetics companies are increasingly looking for local and regional sources of plant-based raw materials. Modern plant research, which breeds adapted crops for agricultural cultivation, plays an important role here.

Herbal, medicinal and medicinal plants are an almost inexhaustible source of pharmaceutically useful substances in phytopharmaceuticals. They have a correspondingly high value-added potential in the agricultural, cosmetics and food industries. Currently, a good 90 percent of the medicinal plants required in Germany are imported - and the majority of the raw materials needed for phytopharmaceuticals come from wild collections. This approach is neither sustainable nor ecologically advisable, as it can lead to over-collection and a threat to biodiversity. The result is often an unacceptable loss of quality in the active ingredients, which can lead to the complete exclusion of the raw materials supplied.

An efficient and economically viable process chain must be established and stabilized for the sustainable production of sufficient quantities of high-quality herbal, medicinal and medicinal plants. The "Circular PhytoREVIER" innovation laboratory offers a platform for this, with which new biogenic value-added cycles are being developed in the Rhenish mining area. The research work includes breeding, high-yield cultivation on various soils as well as active ingredient extraction and product development in the region.

Circular PhytoREVIER:

• Development of yield- and location-optimized herbal, medicinal and medicinal plants using the model plants arnica, nasturtium and dandelion
• Performance cultivation in the open field and in closed systems
• Development of innovative methods for the targeted control and increase of active ingredient content through biological, chemical and physical stress application and for the non-invasive recording of growth and harvest parameters
• Development of environmentally friendly and economical extraction and further processing methods such as drying and processing
• Certification and marketing in collaboration with companies and other innovation clusters
• Transfer of the knowledge generated to agriculture, industry, politics and society

Influence of light

Fraunhofer UMSICHT carries out tests on the addressed model plants in a controlled environment (temperature, humidity) under different light conditions: Light intensity and light composition vary. The influence of the light on the flowering behavior of the plants and on the concentration of ingredients is then determined.

• Fraunhofer IME
• Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZJ)