G-15 Genebanks for medicinal and aromatic plants (G-15) were initiated from the Summit Level Meeting of Group on South-South Consulting and Corporation of the G-15 countries held in Kuala Lumpur during January 1990. Malaysia together with Indonesia and India are representing the Asian region where India is a Regional Coordinator. Dr. Azizol Abdul Kadir from the Fruit Research Institute of Malaysia (FRIM) and Dr. Saw Leng Guan (alternative) have been nominated to represent Malaysia in the Scientific Advisory Committee for a project on the establishment of Genebanks for Medicinal and Aromatic Plants. The activities that can be carried out at the national level are:

• Development and strengthening of proper infrastructure of the conservation of biodiversity of medicinal and aromatic plants.
• Survey, collection and characterization of important taxa.
• Set up of one or more national genebanks for conservation of medicinal and aromatic plants.
• Preparation of a national inventory of important medicinal and aromatic taxa.
• Development of a national database on medicinal and aromatic plants.

FRIM coordinates medicinal plant research in the country. It has assisted the ethnobotany garden covering an area of 0.66 ha.’ Which consists of more than 200 species including herbs, fruits, forests ornamental trees, spices and Citrus. The species selected represent the most common plants, which had been used by the traditional practitioners.

Besides the ethnobotany garden, as an effort for ex situ conservation, seedbank is a convenient and save-spacing method for conserving germplasm. Recently, Azadirachta excelse and Aquilaria malaccensis have attracted attention among scientists for their medicinal values. Efficient in vitro culture systems are being developed in FRIM for these two species. In addition, FRIM also has developed a method for cryopreservation of whole seeds and excised embryos of Pterocarpus indicus. Also, molecular techniques like isozyme analysis and Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNAs (RAPDs) have been developed for quick assessment of genetic variation within species and identification of genotypes for a number of timber in Malaysia. Protocols in DNA extraction have successfully been applied to several medicinal species including Garcinia spp. Labisia pumila, Parkia speciosa and Aquilaria malaccensis. Genetic assessment using both isozyme and RAPD analysis is being carried out for these species [Bulletin of the Genetics Society of Malaysia, Vol. 3, No. 1/ISSN 1394-5750, May 1997]

Source: IPGRI Newsletter, IPGRI for Asia, The Pacific and Oceania, No. 24. Dec, 1997.