Cultivation possibilities for Thyme, an important medicinal plant, in Western Lithuania
Botanical Garden of Klaipėda University, Kretingos 92, LT–92327 Klaipėda, Lithuania;tel. + 370 46 398833, fax. + 370 46 398837; e-mail: rita_nekrosiene@mail.ru
Abstract:
The cultivated medicinal plant production covers only 4–6% of the demand for raw material of the pharmaceutical industry in Lithuania, suggesting that medicinal plant cultivation may be an alternative business for organic farming. Phenology and biological parameters (plant height in flowering phase, number of twigs, air-dry mass), occurrence of diseases and pests of some medicinal plants, as Thymus serpyllum, T. pulegioides and T. vulgaris were studied in the field collection at the Botanical Garden of Klaipeda university (Western Lithuania) in 2001–2006. It was established that the beginning of the vegetation period of T. pulegioides was the same in different years. The amount of precipitation and average air temperature at the beginning of vegetation had influence on the preparation time of medicinal material by thyme, especially T. pullegioides and T. vulgaris. Air-dry mass of T. pulegioides was by 4–18 g m-2 more than the mass of T. serpyllum and T. vulgaris. Pests infected Thymus by 4.5–8.8%; severity of diseases varied from 0.5 to 4.5% in different years.
Key words:
biological characteristics, cultivation, diseases, growth phase, medicinal plants, pests, Thymus, vegetation period