FIRST CULTIVATION OF HYPERICUM PERFORATUM L. UNDER LOCAL EGYPTIAN CONDITIONS

A. Abdel Motaal, A. S. Shalaby, S. F. Hendawy

Abstract: Several efforts have been paid for growing Hypericum in Egypt adopting the usual agricultural practices in the open field however, none of these trials succeeded. All the trials led to just creeping plants without erect stems or flowering. Therefore, in the present study we tried to grow the plant under artificial conditions adopting a light regime aiming to get normal plants as a source for producing a standardized hypericum extracts for the first time in Egypt. Two types of St. John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum l.), i.e. Hypericum perforatum l. and Hypericum perforatum var. topas were used in the present investigation. The vegetative growth and flowering of the plants were compared in the green house as well as in the open feld. Lack of artificial lighting just led to creeping plants without main stems or flowering. In this case, plants of either H. perforatum (HP) or H. perforatum var. Topas (HT) failed to continue their growth cycle and started to dry. On the other hand, supplying the plants
with light regime favored the H. perforatum var. Topas (HT) plants to continue growth and flowering, giving two harvests during the growth season. The same light regime failed to force (HP) to continue growth after the first harvest. The light regime led to significant increments in the growth and flowering of both types of Hypericum. In addition, the light treatment led to significant increment in the total hypericins content in both HT and HP. The whole herb of HP processed higher content of hypericins than HT due to the higher content of hypericins in flowers of HP. Plants grown in the green house were significantly
superior in their growth parameters in comparison with those cultivated in the open field and also supplied with light regime.

Keywords: cultivation; hypericins; Hypericum perforatum; light regime

Date published: 2019-04-18