The primary health care of 70-80% of the world's population is based on the use of medicinal plants derived from traditional systems of medicine and local health practices. Besides developing countries and under-developed countries, even western countries are changing over to alternative medicines due to the more holistic approach and with substantially fewer side effects - as opposed to a depleted immune system due to the prolonged use of allopathic medicine. Immunomodulation or prophylaxis, besides curative effects in chronic ailments, are also major considerations in accepting herbal medicines. With an increasing global demand for herbal medicines, it is necessary that the quality and the consistency of these drugs is maintained for their maximal efficacy. Purity and potency of these herbal medicines is only possible under Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP), quality control and standardisation of the ingredients/ raw drugs - as well as finished products. The Laboratory for Medicinal Plants at FRLHT is a facility established for testing the medicinal plants and / or herbal medicines as per the Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India, the Indian Herbal Pharmacopoeia, the Indian Pharmacopoeia, the British Herbal Pharmacopoeia, the British Pharmacopoeia and the WHO guidelines for quality control methods for medicinal plant materials. It is intended to serve as a central facility for NGOs, small scale manufacturers of herbal medicines, traders, academicians, researchers, students and export organisations for quality testing of raw drugs or compounded herbal medicines. Unlike pharmaceuticals with a known molecular structure, the testing and standardisation procedures of herbal medicines and formulations must be based on the principles, concepts and categories of Indian Systems of Medicine. This work of correlating in a sensitive and balanced way, traditional knowledge with modern concepts and tools, is a huge and unchartered field, that the lab group has chosen to traverse. The Laboratory is also involved in understanding the contemporary relevance of Traditional knowledge involved in collection and processing of medicinal plants and interpretation of this knowledge using modern methods and tools.

Infrastructure and Facility
The laboratory has the requisite manpower and infrastructure for testing herbal medicines and to carry out research and development activities (R&D). Experienced and well-qualified scientists in the disciplines of Phytochemistry, Pharmaceutical Sciences and Microbiology are available for carrying out analytical work as required under the drug-testing mandate for ISM drugs. They are supported by field botanists and experts within FRLHT in the morphological and macroscopic identification of plants.

Phytochemical Section
The laboratory is equipped with all the basic equipment for physico-chemical analysis, chemical analysis, and assay of chemical compounds by volumetric, gravimetric, spectrophotometric ,HPLC & HPTLC methods of specific marker compounds. Thin layer chromatography facilities for finger printing of the herbal medicine or the marker compounds are available for confirming the identity and authenticity of the medicine.

Microbiological Section
A full-fledged microbiology section exists for testing bacterial and fungal contamination of herbal material with sterile testing facilities (Laminar flow hood). Anti microbial tests and a time saving and economical bioassay method using brine shrimps for evaluating biological activity of the herbal medicines are carried out for a preliminary screening of drugs. 

Molecular Biology Section
This is a recent project given by Ministry for Environment and Forest, Govt. of India for genetic Diversity studies of Medicinal Plants.The main purpose of this project is utilizing the modern molecular biology teschiniques in identification of medicinal plants. By using the molecular biology techniques such as DNA isolation and PCCR etc, it is envisaged to develop DNA Fingerprints of some important but controversial plants. Further it is also proposed to develop DNA markers for authenticated medicinal plant(s), which may help in confirming the identity of a plant or a plant-derived product. 

Key Services
The Laboratory provides various custom based services for the needy customers like NGO's, Small-scale manufacturers, R&D organisations, Students etc.,

Testing and standardisation of herbal medicines
Authenticity of the raw drugs based on the morphological characters is done for botanical and species identity.
The tests conducted are to determine physico-chemical standards regarding total ash, water and alcohol soluble extractives, foreign organic matter, and moisture content. Chromatographic finger printing of the herbal medicines for their general profile or marker compounds is done by Thin Layer Chromatography. Chemical assay of the constituents or marker compounds is carried out using the latest analytical techniques of UV and visible spectrophotometeric methods or HPLC for known chemical constituents. The laboratory undertakes the standardisation of herbal medicines as per the specific requirements of the customers/organisations or as per the conventional pharmacopoeial standards for the quality, purity and strength of the drugs.

The herbal medicines are tested for their microbial contamination and limits for bacterial and fungal count. Contract testing of the individual raw drugs either on seasonal or annual basis and the herbal medicines in production of the individual NGO/ organisations can be taken up on mutually acceptable terms and conditions. Please click here for testing fee schedule, conditions etc.

Authenticity - botanical 
Physico-chemical parameters 
Chemical assay 
a. Spectrophotometric 
b. HPLC 
Chromatographic fingerprinting 
Microbiological tests 
Bioassay 

Product development
The Laboratory undertakes custom based development of herbal medicinal product development on a pilot scale for commercial exploitation by the customer. Supporting data on standardisation, consistency, stability of the product and in-built quality control at different phases of production including the quality of inputs could be worked out as per customer requirement. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) would be executed according to mutually agreeable terms and conditions bearing in mind the confidentiality of customer information as well as the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) on the product.

Database information
Computerised database information on botanical identity and pharmacopoeial standards of 300 medicinal plants and pharmacological activities including clinical reports on 175 plant species is available. Database information on Pharmacognosy or pharmacology can be provided at a cost of Rs. 500/- each. Specific needs for other medicinal plants for which Pharmacognosy/ pharmacological information is required can be made available on request on terms and conditions mutually acceptable. 

Training 
The Laboratory can provide training to individuals or organisations in the testing of herbal medicines as per pharmacopoeial standards, in thin layer chromatography techniques for finger printing of the raw drugs or marker compounds, in assay of the chemical compounds by spectrophotmetric and HPLC techniques, in evaluation of herbal medicines for microbiological contamination (bacteria and fungi), as well as in Quality Control and Standardisation of herbal medicine. 

Consultancy
The Laboratory can provide consultancy and need based services on: 
} Formulation of research projects 
} Formulation of herbal products 
} Information on quality control and standardisation 
} Good Manufacturing Practices for herbal medicines 
} Pharmacognosy and Pharmacology of medicinal plants 
} Reports on the clinical evaluation of individual raw drug