Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2021 Dec 23;11(1):29.
doi: 10.3390/plants11010029.

A Comprehensive Review on Biology, Genetic Improvement, Agro and Process Technology of German Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla L.)

Ramesh Chauhan  1 , Sanatsujat Singh  1 , Vikas Kumar  2 , Ashok Kumar  1 , Amit Kumari  3 , Shalika Rathore  4 , Rakesh Kumar  1 , Satbeer Singh  1
Affiliations
Review

A Comprehensive Review on Biology, Genetic Improvement, Agro and Process Technology of German Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla L.)

Ramesh Chauhan et al. Plants (Basel). .

Abstract

German chamomile (M. chamomilla) is recognized as a star herb due to its medicinal and aromatic properties. This plant is found across a wide range of climatic and soil conditions. Both the flower heads and blue essential oils of German chamomile possess several pharmacological properties of an anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antiseptic, antispasmodic and sedative, etc., nature, which makes it a highly sought after herb for use in many pharma and aroma industries. Chamomile tea, prepared from its flower heads, is also a well-known herbal tea for mind and body relaxation. Though it is a high-demand herb, farmers have not adopted this plant for large scale cultivation as a crop, which could improve their livelihood, due to the high cost in flower heads harvesting, loss in over mature and immature flower heads picking during harvesting, unavailability of varieties and agrotechnologies for machine harvesting, a lack of efficient process development of oil extraction and in the lack of improved stable varieties. There are many studies that have reported on the phytochemistry and pharmacological uses of chamomile, which further explore its importance in the medicine industry. Several studies are also present in the literature on its cultivation practices and plant ecology. However, studies on breeding behavior, genetic improvement, varietal development and mechanical harvesting are scarce in German chamomile. Hence, keeping in mind various aspects of farmers' and researchers' interest, earlier reports on taxonomy, floral biology, processing of oil extraction, active constituents, uses, agronomy, breeding challenges and opportunities in German chamomile are summarized in this review.

Keywords: agronomy; chamomile; essential oil; genetic improvement; pharmacological uses.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Accepted species of Genus Matricaria and their distribution.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Different plant parts and habit of German chamomile: flowering plant (a); flower head (b); ray floret (c); disk floret (d); capitulum I (e); teeth/petals of disc floret (f); anthers (g); stigma (h); seed (i); fresh flower harvest (j).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Crop growth cycle of German chamomile in mid hills of western Himalayan region.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Salamon I. Chamomile. The Modern Phytotherapist. Mediherb; Eight Mile Plains, QLD, Australia: 1993. pp. 13–16.
    1. Upadhyay R.K., Singh V.R., Tewari S.K. New agro-technology to increase productivity of chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla L.) Ind. Crop. Prod. 2016;89:10–13. doi: 10.1016/j.indcrop.2016.04.072. - DOI
    1. Mann C., Staba E.J. The chemistry, pharmacognosy and chemical formulations of chamomile. Herbs Spices Med. Plants. 1986;1:236–280.
    1. Singh O., Khanam Z., Misra N., Srivastava M.K. Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla L.): An overview. Pharmacogn. Rev. 2011;5:82–95. doi: 10.4103/0973-7847.79103. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Gupta V., Mittal P., Bansal P., Khokra S.L., Kaushik D. Pharmacological Potential of Matricaria recutita-A Review. Int. J. Pharm. Sci. Drug Res. 2010;2:12–16.

LinkOut - more resources