New Directions in Plant Material Research

The recent discovery of various biological activities of natural resources has focused much attention on their efficacy, and in consequence, the application of medicinal plants has expanded globally. To illustrate, medicinal plants are used for research on new drug development in primary health care. Nevertheless, natural resource protection policies such as the Nagoya Protocol have promoted global competition, wherein a challenge is posed by the high cost of natural resources. To overcome this challenge, it is essential that attempts are made to discover novel plants among agricultural by-products and tropical plants, which are currently used as simple ornamental plants. Furthermore, it is anticipated that going beyond the use of plants in humans and studying their use in livestock and pets would extend the scope of application for plants.