S25 - Session O1 - Keynote: Aromatic and medicinal plants gene pool from the VIR collection: diversity and potential

Authors: Anna Artemyeva *

The VIR world collection of aromatic and medicinal plants includes more than 4500 accessions from 90 countries of various status, which belong to 16 families, 90 genera and 143 species. The most widely represented families are Lamiaceae (23%), Asteraceae (21%), Apiaceae (14%), Brassicaceae (7%) and Polygonaceae (5%). The most widely represented in the collection are such crops as sorrel (485 accessions), basil (436 acc.), okra (390 acc.), endive (323 acc.), watercress (325 acc.), fennel (243 acc.), asparagus (166 acc.), mint (128 acc.), savory (120 acc.) and salvia (107 acc.). The VIR is studying such crops as basil, watercress, arugula, artichoke, root chicory, mint, vegetable chrysanthemum and Malabar spinach by morphological, phenological, economically valuable and biochemical characteristics. The main directions in which the study and selection is carried out are earliness, including in connection with the advancement of southern crops to the north, yield, resistance to early stemming, resistance to biotic and abiotic stressors, decorativeness, suitability for various cultivation methods, including in pot culture and intensive photo culture. Studies of the biochemical composition of all crops are aimed at determining the content of dry matter, sugars, ascorbic acid, chlorophylls and carotenoids, anthocyanins, phenolic compounds and amino acids. Also, accessions of mint are studied for the content of essential oils, chicory root and artichoke for the content of inulin. The obtained phenotypic and biochemical data are used to create trait collections. The collection is screened annually to identify both new phenotypes for individual traits and for combinations of already known traits. In recent years, there has been an intensive replenishment of the collection, with special attention paid to medicinal plants. The collection includes accessions of althaea ( Althaea officinalis L.), arnica ( Arnica montana L.), elecampane ( Inula helenium L.), sagebrush ( Artemisia L.), tutsan ( Hypericum L.), European gromwell ( Lithospermum officinale L.), polemonium ( Polemonium caeruleum L.) and anthyllis ( Anthyllis L.).