Ornamental bulb crops as sources of medicinal and industrial natural products

Abstract

Plants produce many diverse chemical compounds that are used in various industries. The aim of this thesis was to obtain an understanding of what is needed to convert an ornamental crop to a pharmaceutical crop. This included knowledge about regulatory issues and expectations from the industry regarding quality and safety of such crops. Based on this knowledge, a further aim was to determine how the cultivation practices of the model ornamental crop Narcissus pseudonarcissus, which contains the medicinal compound galanthamine, needed to be adapted. Some key points in the cultivation process were identified that may need to be adapted in the production of Narcissus bulbs as raw material for the pharmaceutical industry. These points were investigated in field experiments using NMR-based metabolomics as the main analytical tool. This contributed to a validated production chain of Narcissus pseudonarcissus bulbs suita ble for use as raw material for the extraction of galanthamine. Results from exploratory investigations into other ornamental bulb material for novel industrial products are also presented.