Interacting Environmental factors affect targeted Milk thistle metabolomic profile and other growth components: A Review

Abstract

Milk thistle (Silybum marianum L. Gaernt.) is a medicinally important herb of the family Asteraceae, whose seeds are enriched with an active compound known as “Silymarin”. Silymarin has attracted a huge attention in the modern pharmaceutical industries. It prevents hepatotoxic agents and stimulates liver regeneration. However, active ingredients biosynthesis and accumulation are greatly influenced by environmental variability. Milk thistle also behaves as a noxious weed; so in crop cultivation, awareness about its germination and growth behavior under different environmental conditions is highly imperative from an agricultural point of view. Despite the availability of different sources, the potential of this medically important plant under different environmental conditions is not fully known. This review presents an inclusive overview of the physiological and phenotypic variations in Milk thistle under different abiotic and biotic stresses. Specifically, this review provides an in-depth analysis of different secondary metabolites of Milk thistle under environmental stresses; however, special concern was given to the silymarin synthesis and accumulation.