Responses of Medicinal Plants to Abiotic Stresses

Medicinal plants have been discovered and used in traditional medicine practices since prehistoric times. Wild medicinal plant species as a substantial component of natural phytocoenoses are also responsible for the biodiversity and stability of natural ecosystems. Medicinal plants may provide three main kinds of benefit: health benefits to the people who consume them as medicines; financial benefits to people who harvest, process, and distribute them for sale; and society-wide benefits, such as job opportunities, taxation income, and a healthier labor force. In general, the modulation of light is important during cultivation of medicinal plants to obtain desirable morphological and physiological changes associated with the maximum production of biologically active substances. Jaffel-Hamza et al. cultivated borage in a hydroponic medium and studied the effect of salinity on growth, seed yield, and fatty acid composition of this medicinal plant using three NaCl concentrations.