Herbal Technology: Recent Trends and Progress

Herbal technology: Recent trends and Progress is a comprehensive book on the various trends and the aspects of this recent branch of Botany. Herbal technology encompasses all the myriads of ways of utilizing the multifarious potentialities of plants for human welfare. There are presently five aspects such as Medicinal plants, Natural dyes, Biopesticides, Biofertilizers and Biofuel in this discipline, though more and more may added by the brilliant workers who tread this path at a later stage. Medicinal plants which form the first section contains a number of papers dealing with biomarkers, both pharmacognostic and phytochemical, on a good number of medicinal plants as well as many ethnobotanical surveys, Natural Dyes from the second section and it covers the application of dyes from six plants such as Rohira, katha, ravenchi wood, Annatto, babool, banana on various textiles. A novel method of utilizing microencapsulated fragrances of Lavender, Rose, Musk, Lemon, Sandalwood, tropical Paradise and Bouquet on various textiles is presented in another paper. In the third section on Biopesticides, papers on Biocontrol agents, control of toxicogenic fungi by phytochemicals and antifungal activity of plant extracts are included. In the section on Biofertilizers papers on the utility of marine algae, blue green algae and Am fungi are included. In the last section, Biofuels, the utility of biogas as well as a number of new sources of fatty oils have been presented. This book will serve as a reference book for students, teachers and workers of Medicinal Plants, natural Dyes, Biopesticides, Biofertilisers and Biofuel. It will also of great use for NGOs and farmer who would be interested in value-addition of their trees, commercial manufactures of natural products and even to a layman interested in the multifarious utilities of plants around.