Metla Project 7202
Northern forest plants in natural product industry
Duration: 2005-2006
Keywords: bilberry, birch, concentration gradients, juniper, latitude, multiple use, natural product industry, natural products, secondary compounds
Research project group: Distinct projects - Forest-based enterprise and business activities
Objectives
The objectives of the project are - To improve the competitiveness of northern forests plants in natural product industry:
Are the concentrations of active compounds higher in plant materials collected in Lapland as compared to material collected in southern parts of Finland? - To improve the good quality (high concentration of active compounds and good hygienic quality) of plant materials collected in Lapland:
By which methods is it possible to collect high-quality plant material in Finland? - To estimate the sustainable limits for biomass collection of juniper and bilberry in northern Finland
How much biomass is it possible to collect without jeopardizing plant recovery?
Results
The concentrations of phenolic compounds in juniper and bilberry, terpenes in juniper and flavonoids in birch leaves were observed to increase with higher latitude. The average concentrations of studied compounds were 1,5 - 10 times higher in Northern Lapland as compared to coastal region of Southern Finland.
Collecting the juniper shoots did not cause permanent damage to the plant. As a matter of fact, many juniper plants were observed to thicken and increasing its biomass as a result of shoot-cutting.
The biomass of bilberry twigs was observed to recover from the cutting rapidly, there was no apparent difference between the cut and intact twig growth after one year of the cutting. The berry crop was observed to decrease after one year of the twig-cutting.
A guidebook "Collecting natural product raw materials for industrial use" (in Finnish) was prepared. The guidebook concerns following topics: - Collecting networks and training possibilities
- Producing plant material for natural product industry
- Quality of plant material, safety and hygienic aspects of collecting
- Laws concerning collecting of natural product raw materials
- Natural recovery and treatment of collecting areas
- Equipments and machinery applied in collecting of plant materials
- Identification of plants used as a natural product raw material
- Processing of plants used as a natural product raw material
More information about the project
Background
Partners
Project leader:
Varmola, Martti
The Finnish Forest Research Institute,
Rovanniemi Research Unit,
PL 16, FI-96301 ROVANIEMI, FINLAND
Phone: +358 10 211 4410 Telefax: +358 10 211 4401
E-mail: martti.varmola@metla.fi
Other researchers:
Martz, Francoise, RO (2006), Peltola, Rainer, RO (2005-06), Stark, Sari, RO (2005-06)
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Updated 30.12.2009
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