Head: Prof. dr hab. Barbara Kołodziej, research-didactic professor

dr hab. Beata Król, research-didactic associate professor

Since 2006, the Laboratory of Quality Assessment of Herbal Raw Materials has been working at the Department of Industrial and Medicinal Plants.

Laboratory conducts research in the field of phytochemical evaluation of medicinal plants. It concerns the determination of the effect of various factors on the chemical compounds content in selected herbal raw materials and on the methodology of their determination (e. g. saponin, including ginsenosides; flavonoids; glycosides; tannins; essential oils; phenolic compounds). The biological value is also tested, among others antioxidant activity. Equipment:- two high-performance liquid chromatographs type Varian with UV-Vis, ELSD and DAD detectors (determination of the content of active substances in selected herbal raw materials, e. g. saponins (ginsenosides), phenolic compounds, flavonoids, sterols, coumarins, plant dyes, etc. ); Dering apparatus with instrumentation (determination of essential oil content) Hitachi UV-VIS spectrophotometer (determination of the sum of flavonoids (FP VIII), sum of phenolic acids, plant dyes, tannins, etc. ); microwave extractor for accelerated sample extraction Mars 5 (plant sample extraction); rotary evaporator RVO 400 (plant extractor extraction); InterSonic ultrasonic bath (extraction, sludge and sample dissolution), fume cupboard, dryers, muffle furnace, mills, centrifuges, water baths, shakers, stirrers, water demineralisation station, water distiller, technical and analytical balances.

The Laboratory is used for teaching purposes in the realisation of the following subjects: – Herbs and medicinal plants – Herbal technologies – Production and quality of herbs – Herbal plants in nutrition – Herbal products – Herbal commodities – Herbal commodities – Packaging – Research methods for raw materials and agricultural products – Foliar feeding of plants – Plant metabolites – Renewable energy sources – Hazard biochemistry.