ESTABLISHMENT OF ECO-BIOTECHNOLOGY R & D IN THE BIOTECHNOLOGY APPLICATION AND RESEARCH CENTER
Our country has a rich flora such as 1251 genera and more than 12.000 species and subspecies taxa (sub-species and variety) belonging to 174 families. Considering that all European countries have about 12,000 plant taxa, it is seen how rich our country is in terms of vegetation. Besides, our country is very rich in terms of endemism. While the total number of endemic taxa in all European countries is approximately 2750, the number of endemic species in our country is 2891. Moreover, our country has the richest flora of the Middle East in terms of the ratio and diversity of endemic species. There are no exact information on the number of plant species used in the world for medical purposes, and the estimates range from 20,000 to 70,000. Although not known with certainty in Turkey number of medically used plants is estimated to be around 500; about 200 medicinal and aromatic plants are stated to have export potential.
Bilecik province; the climate and vegetation characteristics of the three different phytogeographic regions are small and although they are small in terms of area, endemism rate is high due to geographic conditions. Many of the endemic species identified to date in Bilecik and its environs are of medical importance and some of their species are endangered. To date, 424 medical and aromatic plant taxa belonging to 48 families in Bilecik province have been identified in the studies. Of these, 20 taxa belonging to 9 families are endemic. In order to make efficient use of these taxa in pharmacology and industry, it is imperative to know their genetic and ecological characteristics, to protect their habitats and to maintain their generations. In this respect, there is a need for an R & D unit which will maintain this mission and bring these plants to the pharmaceutical sector.
Considering this situation, our project, which was executşived by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Cihan DARCAN, titled ‘Establishment of ECO-Biotechnology R & D Unit at BIOTECHNOLOGY APPLICATION AND RESEARCH CENTER’ accepted to support by the Eskişehir Bilecik Development Agency (BEBKA) within the scope of the Rural Development Program for Rural Development in 2015. Thanks to Prof. Dr. Atila Ocak (Osmangazi University, Faculty of Science and Literature, Department of Biology) for his contributions to our project.