Abstract

DRUG COLLECTION AND STORAGE PRACTICES: AN AYURVEDIC PERSPECTIVE

Dr. Anu Ruhila* and Dr. Anupam Srivastava

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Abstract

In the recent years, there is an exponential growth in demand for herbal drugs across the globe. The market for herbal drugs is rapidly growing and expanding at a faster pace. However, the ever increasing demand for herbal drugs in market, has led to many consequences such as overexploitation and unscientific use of medicinal plants, bio-piracy along with lack of regulation and infrastructure for proper cultivation and collection of medicinal plants etc. This tremendous growth of the herbal sector has revealed the need for improved quality control in cultivation and collection of herbal raw material. The guidelines released by WHO on “Good agricultural and collection practices (GACP) for medicinal plants,” addresses the issues related to cultivation as well as provides recommendations on cultivation and collection techniques along with their practical implications. The seers of Ayurveda were well-versed with the various harvesting, collection and storage techniques of medicinal plants to get optimum therapeutic results. In Ayurveda literature, the practices related to drug collection and storage has been mentioned as per the different seasons, Nakshatras etc. to attain maximum therapeutic effect through the drug which has been properly harvested. The ancient concept of drug collection and storage shows its applicability & relevance in present era due to its close resemblance with the existing modern guidelines for drug cultivation and collection.

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