Evaluation of micropropagation for the introduction into cultivation and conservation of Lippia junelliana, an endemic aromatic plant from Argentina

The aims of this work were to introduce Lippia junelliana into cultivation, to compare the essential oil accumulation between cultivated and wild plants, and to reintroduce micropropagated plants in the location of the original population. The leaves and inflorescences of cultivated plants accumulated, on a dry weight basis, higher amounts of essential oil than their wild counterparts. Thus, total essential oil accumulation of cultivated plant parts was also significantly higher than that of wild counterparts. The cultivated plants showed the same essential oil profile than the wild plants. This work demonstrates that cultivation can be a more efficient vehicle to both preserve and exploit L. junelliana, than collection from the wild, because higher yields of biomass and oil accumulation can be achieved, while essential oil composition is less affected by the different treatments. The reintroduction of new plants into the species’ original location has proved to be a viable alternative for their in situ preservation or enrichment planting. This model of introduction of aromatic plants into cultivation through micropropagation could be a useful technique to recover valuable chemotypes from the wild in the search for new alternatives in the agriculture and for the preservation of natural resources for future generations.