Approaches for the genetic improvement of Lavender: A short review

Abstract

There is a recent increase in popularity of lavenders and their essential oils due to its potential in therapeutic properties and agri-business. Farming society and different agri-entrepreneurs around the globe are preferring cultivation of lavender for commercial farming over the traditional one. Lavender oil has big domestic and international market scope. Its significance in the perfumery industry, aromatherapy and ecotourism has motivated people to opt for the cultivation of lavenders. Improvement of the yield and quality of these natural plant products in lavender through conventional breeding is still a challenge due to clonal nature of most of the species and perennial nature. To overcome these constraints genomics and post-genomics are believed to offer new opportunities for the improvement of yield and quality of oil in lavender. Also the progress made in the development of EST databases and functional markers significantly helped genetic improvement programme in lavender. This review will present an overview of different genomic and molecular approaches for enhancing the genetic potential and vigour of lavenders.