NATIONAL RESEARCH SEMINAR ON HERBAL CONSERVATION, CULTIVATION, MARKETING AND UTILIZATION WITH SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON CHHATTISGARH “THE HERBAL STATE” DEC. 13-14, 2001 by EcoPort version by Pankaj Oudhia 2
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| (1) Technical Session - I (Oral Presentation) Technical Session - III A (Poster Presentation) (a) Conservation of herbs. (b) Identification of herbs. (m) Scientific exploitations of herbs. Development of medicinal plants in Chhattisgarh : Problems And prospects V.K. Patil Indira Gandhi Agriculaural University Raipur (C.G.) 492012 E-mail :- vk_patil@yahoo.com ABSTRACT Chhattisgarh state has a very rich biodiversity of medicinal plants. The biodiversity remained intact in those districts where the tribal population is predominant. Some of such areas with high biodiversity in chhattisgarh are Bastar, Kanker, Dantewara, Surguja, Koriya, and Jashpur districts. The tribals of chhattisgarh, even now, depend upon the medicinal plants for treating their ailments. For example, the medicine to treat diabetes is Silosia and two important species of the same viz. S. .microsperma and S. Spunadis are available in plenty in the forests of Bastar and their roots and bark are used as medicine. Similarly Chomefera mukul, which is used in Ayurveda for treating obesity and other heart ailments, is abundant in chhattisgarh. Root crops like Fulreria tuberosis used for preparation of tonic and other purposes are available in the frosts of Bastar and Surguja. Now the importance of the medicinal plants is well recognized due to open economy and globalization. A number of progressive farmers in the state are coming forward to take up the cultivation of medicinal plants on commercial basis. However, there are several problems that are cropping up in development of the medicinal plants in the state. Some of them are : 1. Development of medicinal plants in a sustainable manner. This mainly depends upon designing appropriate property right structures and regimes to safeguard the tribal community, as they are responsible for preservation of these valuable materials since several centuries. 2. In the WTO regime, it is necessary to adopt suitable policies to honour the international commitments besides safeguarding the local tribal interests. 3. Conservation of the vast resource of medicinal plants needs a thorough planning and infra-structural development. This requires continuous investment, since generation humid of the project may be fairly long. Research and development activities are prerequisities for the commercial cultivation of the medicinal plants. The primary R&D activities that are needed for development of the medicinal plants in chhattisgarh are : 1. Resource inventory and mapping, through which a clear picture of the available medicinal plants in different parts of the state can be obtained. 2. Development of suitable agro techniques for some of the medicinal plants for viable commercial cultivation. The agronomy includes climate and soil suitability, time of planting, crop geometry, fertilizer application, plant protection etc. 3. Processing and marketing including export, for this purpose, some R&D institutions under ICMR can be contacted to have collaborative research programme with the universities in the state. This ascertains the validity of the medicinal plants against various diseases. 4. Encourage to the Pharmaceutical industries in chhattisgarh. Once, such R&D activities are developed, the state can prosper well through medicinal plant cultivation. In this paper attempts have been made to discuss each of the above issues with state perspective and some recommendations have been made for the development of medicinal plants in the state. Protection of Bio-diversity through Medicinal Plants Conservation and Development in Chhattisgarh *Arvind Boaz Chief Conservator of Forests, Chhattisgarh. ABSTRACT Chhattisgarh, the newly carved out state in the Union of India, has an extermely rich bio-diversity. Nearly 44% of its Geographical area is covered with forests. These forests comprise of rich Sal, Teak, and Miscellaneous Forest. The forests are mainly inhabited by indigenous people who are greatly dependent on the Medicinal Plants available in these forest for their health and economic well being. In India, over 7500 species are recorded as being used by 4635 ethnic communities for human and veterinary care. Over 1700 species have been documented in Ayurvedic texts, out of these species nearly 625 species have being identified and traded from the forests of chhattisgarh. It is estimated that the annual turnover in Medicinal Plants in the State of chhattisgarh exceeds Rs. 500 Crores. In the recent years there has been a heavy increase in the demand for herbal products. The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has estimated a trade of US$ 60 billion per year. This has led to heavy destructive over exploitation. Nearly 95% of the species are subjected to heavy destructive exploitation due to insufficient knowledge and greed of collectors and end users. In a Conservation Assessment and Management Planning Work shop organised by I.I.F.M. Bhopal, out of the 40 commercially exploited species evaluated, two (2) were found critically endangered, 9 endangered and 14 vulnerable. Inspite of the massive demand for Medicinal Plants, less than 20 species are under cultivation. Cultivation is also an extremely risky proposition as most of the middle men involved in the trade heavily exploit the farmers because of their ignorance, both as far as species cultivation is concerned as well as the marketing aspect. The situation of the herbal cultivation is still worse as there is heavy exploitation by kochias and middle men of the poor ignorant collectors. The situation is so bad because there is little awareness in this field and there is absolute lack of primary and secondary data of the existing potential, area of occurrence, persent exploitation extent (collection and cultivation) demand and supply quantities/channels, rates of procurement etc., both at the collector/farmer, as well as the Organisation (Primary Forest Co-operative or Joint Forest committee) level. There is no forward or backward positive linkage between primary producers and the end users. There is no price control or any standardisation of procurement at any level. No value addition is taking place and only raw material is being plundered by the end users without any investment on their part for the conservation and development of medicinal plants. The era of this massive exploitation seems to be coming to its end, with the initiatives of the State Government. The declaration of the state of chhattisgarh as a herbal state and the initiatives being brought about, have served as a ray of hoe, not only to the forest collectors but also to the cultivators of Medicinal plants in chhattisgarh. A task force has been established and Peoples' Protected areas are being developed by the forest department. tHe Joint Forest Committees have been empowered with ownership right over medicinal plants as per provision of the 73rd Constitutional Amendment. This has generated interest of the local communities in the conservation and development of this resource. Effective legal frame work with Special Acts have also come in force both in trade and transit. Transit rules have been amended to re-introduce control on transit of Aonla etc. and to control its destructive harvesting and specific periods of harvesting have been introduced. But, still, several initiatives are needed to make inroads in the Medicinal Plants collection, cultivation and trade and establish chhattisgarh as a herbal State. Some of the Steps proposed to be taken, are as under : 1. Authentic data bank to be developed through lunch of district-wise actual field surveys and compilation of actual exploitation data through survey of various medicinal herbs markets. 2. Carry out market surveys to pinpoint demand supply matrix-create marketing research cell in the chhattisgarh MFP Federation. 3. Initiate action for empowering JFM committees by gram sabhas as provided in the 73rd constitutional amendments and priorities trade in medicinal plants. If necessary pass a bill. 4. Prioritize Medicinal plants species for direct intervention by the samities in a phased manner. 5. Initiate action to establish workable link between JFM committees and the primary forest co-operatives to ensure availability of finances and marketing facilitation. 6. Intiate dialogue with industries for standardization of raw material/crude drugs and franchies arrangements with the samitis/cultivators for supply of value added material. 7. Facilitate 'captive cultivation' for endusers to ensure direct link and ensured marketing to cultivators and consequent curb on exploitative practices 8. Carry out extensive training/extension programmes for collectors and cultivators. 9. Ensure Investments by end users by creation of a State level Medicinal Plants Conservation and development fund. 10. Ensure value addition at the primary level through establishment of primary processing units at the farm and committee level. 11. Substantiate/co-ordinate RD effort of the industries/Govt.agencies/NGOs for development of plant resource inculding genetic engineering and large scale propagation of improved varieties of medicinal plants. 12. Co-ordinate effort of various Govt./semi-Govt./NGOS and Industries to ensure continuous flow of funds for medicinal plants development and curb on parallel research. 13. Intiate action for due legislation/implementation of laws to curb destructive harvesting and plundering of resource base by end users without any investment on there part. The initiatives of the State Govt. have started bearing fruits and the insitu conservation of medicinal plants, their sustainable harvesting, storage and marketing being set into motion by the forest Department Work in the exitu development is taking place with several farmers taken up cultivation of medicinal plants. These initiatives can be further strengthened by the proposed steps cited above. This will not only lead to a major increase in the earning of the forest dependent local communities but also the farmers and also bring about their whole-hearted co-operation in the conservation and development of the mega bio-diversity that exist in chhattisgarh. Scientific exploitation of medicinal plant resources of Chhattisgarh state- A concept paper Ravishankar, B. and Shukla, V. J. Institute of Post graduate Teaching and Research in Ayurveda, Gujarat Ayurved University, Jamnagar- Gujarat State. ABSTRACT Natural products including medicinal plant form a very important source material for the therapeutics in all the systems of medicines that exist now. Due mainly to the world wide back to nature movement, the world market in plant based pharmaceuticals, medicinal preparations used in Traditional systems of medicine, perfumery, cosmetics, fragrances and food flavors has seen phenomenal expansion in the past two decades. The present global trade in herbal products is estimated to be around 60 billion US $ and is predicted to reach the figure of 5 trillion US $ by 2050. At present our country's turn over in drugs used in traditional systems of medicine is around 2400 crore rupees with an export component of around 300 crore rupees. This clearly indicates that there is tremendous scope for increasing our country's share in global herbal trade. However, the attempt to commercially exploit our herbal wealth should be done in a scientific and sustainable manner otherwise we may end up losing this great wealth for short-term economical gains. Hence it is very important to formulate action plans for undertaking an integrated and multi-sectoral approach for this purpose. As a first step it would be useful to prepare a status paper on different aspects related to medicinal plants resources development in the Chhattisgarh, which because of its vast natural resources has great potential for the development of medicinal plant resources based entrepreneurial activity. For undertaking the developmental activity it is a pre-requisite to undertake appraisal of the following factors - 1. Availability of raw material (drugs) and other in puts 2. Product development taking into consideration present and future national and international health care requirements 3. Awareness and tradition of utilization of medicinal plant based products. Creation of an authentic database on all aspects of medicinal plant resources development is required. This will help in formulating suitable action plans for scientific and sustainable development of each of the above mentioned sectors. The database with regards to raw material should include details about availability and distribution pattern of medicinal and aromatic plant wealth of the state, list of rare, overexploited and endangered plants that require suitable conservation strategies and data on cultivation of medicinal and aromatic plants in the state. The data base with regards to product development would require survey of the utility pattern of medicinal plants in different categories of preparations similar to the ITCOT (Tamil nadu) report on ayurvedic medicines which provides detailed and comprehensive information about all aspects of product development and marketing of ayurvedic products. This data should be supplemented with the data with regards to the health status at national and international level. This is very important for determining the thrust areas for development of new formulations for the present and future. There would be requirement for initiating steps for market promotion, import substitution and export promotion of medicinal plant based preparations. This also requires authentic database. For long term and sustainable development of medicinal plant resources it is very essential to undertake standardization of all aspects of medicinal plant based drugs starting from raw drug collection and processing, manufacturing process standardization and standardization of finished products. This forms a very vital part of the efforts to globalize the utilization of medicinal plant based preparations manufactured in our country and to ensure repeatability and reproducibility of the therapeutic effects observed with the herbal drugs. In addition wherever required it may be necessary to undertake toxicological and pharmacological studies to provide proof of safety and biological efficacy of the products marketed. Further it is essential to create awareness about the utility of ISM both at national and international level by mounting campaign through information, education and communication techniques. Nutraceutics is an emerging field of therapy in the international scenario. It deals with utilization of plants or plant products for preventive or curative effects through controlled dietary consumption. Many Ayurvedic plants have increasingly been utilized for this purpose. Indian spinach, karela, turmeric, fenugreek, curry leaf, mint leaf, onion, garlic, ginger, nutmeg, Piper nigrum and Piper longum, Piper betle are some of the examples. . It is necessary to identify medicinal plants with large global potential and then initiate steps to develop them as important source for international trade. Agro-commercial modalities for ensuring credit support to medicinal plant based resources development activities have to be worked out. This may include support for cultivation of medicinal plants, semi-processing of medicinal plants or for integrated development of medicinal plant based resources as a whole. Another important requirement is the generation of high quality human resources for shouldering different types of responsibilities enumerated above. For this it is essential to create infra-structural facilities in the form of educational and research institutes. Further there would be requirement for drug testing laboratories or regional Pharmacopoeial laboratories to take care of regulatory aspects of herbal product development. From the above account it is clear that medicinal plant based resources development related activities are quite complex requiring the services and expertise of many diverse agencies. There will be requirement for establishing effective link between agencies involved from the primary production stage to user end. It is essential to have a co-ordinating agency that can co-opt any organization specialized in a particular area. A state level medicinal plant development board on the lines of the recently established national board would be ideal for this purpose. Further details on different issues mentioned above would be provided during the full paper presentation. Medicinal Trees For Forest Conservation And Health Care With Reference to Chhattisgarh Region Sunil Puri Professor & Head Department of Forestry, India Gandhi Agricultural University Raipur (C.G.) 492 012 ABSTRACT Tropical forests are the source of a large proportion of the world's recognized medicinal plants. It is variously estimated that there are between 2,00,000 and 7,00,000 species of tropical flowering plants. Such a wealth of identified species, which have been in no sense thoroughly investigated, constitutes an enormous potential source of plant derived chemicals useful to man. Tropical forests are disappearing at a frightening rate and we are unwittingly observing the decrease of our natural resources which are the "power house of evolution" and a major source of "Wild medicines" Chhattisgarh region is no exception. The disappearance of the natural vegetation and even its replacement with artificially established forests are changing the ecology of the environment with a consequent disappearance or change in occurrence of many medicinally useful species, thus depriving of their benefits to the rural communities of Chhattisgarh. How we can assist in the conservation of these species ? The most appropriate programmes appear to be those dealing with forest conservation and promotion of cultivation practices of useful species. In situ and ex situ techniques are needed to conserve and manage the medicinal tree resources. The former provides the opportunity to preserve the broadest range of species, but the latter is more appropriate when access to specific or threatened populations is desired. The paper briefly reviews the important medicinal trees of Chhattisgarh and their future scope. Some recent developments in the field of medicinal plants are examined in a historical perspective, focusing on continuing programs, trends and needs in the conservation and domestication of these resources. The vanishing of medicinal resource is attributed mainly to commercial exploitation of biomedical resources. At international level many agreements, like Convention on Biological Diversity and General Agreement on tariffs & Trade, have taken place in order to conserve and properly utilize medicinal resources. Unfortunately, indigenous people have been marginalized. This paper examines the need of indigenous perspectives and bioprospecting rules for the conservation of medicinal trees. ENDANGERED SPECIES OF MEDICINAL PLANTS OF CHHATTISGARH ON THE VERGE OF EXTINETION AND OTHER SPECIES WHICH ARE RARE AND BECOMING ENDANGERED, NEED IMMEDIATE CONSERVATION. BISHAL BHARAT MEDICINAL PLANT ADVISOR TO CHH. GOVT., THAKUR ROAD, {{JAGDALPUR}e}. ABSTRACT I ENCLOSE HEREWITH THE LIST OF MEDICINAL PLANTS WHICH ARE END ANGERED AND ON THE VERGE OF EXTINETION. OUT OR THE 16 DISTRICTS OF CHHATTISGARH BASTAR DIST; KANKER AND DANTEWARA DIST; OF BASTER DIVISION ARE RICH IN MEDICINAL PLANTS AND ARE STILL ON EXPLOITED. SOME OF THEM HAVE BEEN DISCOVERED BY ME AND IS STILL UNIDENTIFIED. RECENTLY IN MY MEDICINAL SURVEY TO DEPOSIT NO. 10 OF BACHELI I WAS SURPRISED TO FIND THAT THE SOUTHERN PART OF DEPOSIT NO. 10, ADJACENT TO DESERTED REST HOUSE OF THE BASTAR RULERS I FOUND MANY SPECIES WHICH I HAD NEVER SEEN IN MY LIFE. THIS IS A ASTONISHING THING AND NEED A VERY DELAILED SURVEY AND IDENTIFICATION. DR. H.F. MONEY THE THEN FOREST ADVISOR OF EASTERN STATES AGENCY, IN 1938 AND ONWARDS COMPILED VIII VOLUME OF HAINS FLORA WHICH DR. HAINS HAD MISSED AND GAVE HIS FINAL VERSION THAT THERE ARE NO MEDICINAL PLANTS IN THE WORLD LEFT TO WRITE 8TH VOLUME. THANKS TO DR. MOONEY FOR THIS DISCOVERY. LATER NO. DR. S.D.N. TIWARY LATE SENIOR C.C.F. (D.G.F.) M.P. WROTE A BOOK ON THE GRASSES OF BAILADEELA. THIS AREA NEEDS CONSERVATION AND DETAILED STUDIES. THE ANOTHER SURPRISE WAS TO NOTE THAT DEEP HUMOUS OF FOREST EXISTS IN THE DEPTH OF 2' TO 3' FEET MY LEGS WERE STUCK UP IN THE STORAGE OF DEEP HUMOUS. THIS IS THE REASON WHY SUCH RARE PLANTS ARE NOTICED. I MAY BE VERY ASTONISHING AS WELL AS INTERESTING TO THE LEARNED BOTANISTS. THIS IS REALLY A HEAVEN FOR THE AYURVEDIC SCHOLARS. IF THE GOVT. AID IS GIVEN I AM SURE CHHATTISGARH PROVINCE WILL BECOME FAMOUS FOR THESE WORLD RENOWNED MEDICINAL PLANTS NOT REPORTED IN THE FLORAS ELSE WHERE. THIS PROVES THAT CHHATTISGARH IS VERY RICH WITH THE MEDICINAL EALTH BEYOND THE ESTIMATION OF ANY EDUCATION ALIST. WITH THIS INVITE THE LEARNED BOIANISTS TO THE RICH DISTS. OF BASTAR & DANIEWARA WHERE TREE LIKE BARUD AGAINST WHICH SNAKES DASH AND COMMIT SUICIDE. Parthenium : A Curse for Natural Herbs M. Mahadevappa, T.K. Das and Ashok Kumar ABSTRACT Plant succession is a natural phenomenon.It is, however, slow in some cases and fast in others. All man-made habitats are highly vulnerable to invasion by a plant/weed, which quickly occupies such areas unless properly cared for. A case in point is the weed Parthenium hysterophorus L. (Commonly known as parthenium, congress grass, white top or carrot weed; family - Asteraceae), a herbaceous, annual and poisonous weed. Widelydistributed in wastelands, degraded soil, rock crevices, along water canals, bunds, road sides, railway tracks, coalfield areas and recently in cropped areas, parthenium has become a matter of grave concern. Because of its efficient biological activity, wider adaptability to varying soil and micro-environment, parthenium has replaced dominant flora in a wide range of habitats cutting across state boundaries and agro-climatic region. Very little or sometimes no vegetation could be seen in parthenium dominated areas. Wherever it invades, it forms a territory of its own replacing the indigenous natural flora including medicinal herbs utilized by man as a source of medicine. It is parthenium's allelopathy, which causes inhibition of germination, suppression of natural vegetation including medicinal herbs and thereby poses a strong threat to biodiversity. Besides, its high fecundity [Nearly 7000 cypsella (fruits) & 10,000-15,000 seeds per plant} and small and light weight seeds capable of long distance travel through wind, water and other means, made parthenium highly proliferative. It is an ideal example of naturalized weed, which is more virulent and highly adapted with viable huge standing population all through the year to its new places/countries of introduction that its original homestead. Its maximum importance value incex (IVI) reported in both cropped and uncropped aeas itself depicts its higher competitive ability, strong adaptive, reproductive and regenerative potential. Since time immemorial, a variety of natural herbs have become the basis of traditional systems of medicine for treatment of several diseases in various parts of the globe. These traditional systems have been existing since remote past in countries such as China (Chang and But, 1986) and India (Kapoor, 1990). The traditional medicinal systems continue to be of vital importance. It has been estimated by World Health Organization (WHO) that nearly 80% of the world's human population depends on the traditional systems for primary health care (Fransworth et. Al., 1985). Amongst the world's ancient civilization, India has been recognized as a rich repository of natural herbs, which are being used in different indigenous systems of medicines e.g. Ayurveda, Siddha and Homoeopathy. Presently there are 9,500 plant herbs used in traditional medicinal systems as well as fold medicines., Terrain and longitudinal position encompassing different climatic zones from arid to temperate region, rainfall zones from highest to lowest ones and phyto-geographical regions from rich humid tropics to the alpine vegetation made India the home for natural herbs. Our rich heritage and mosaic ethnic culture too preserve the diversity of natural herbs widely distributed in different phyto-ecological zones of the country. The medicinal herbs viz., Swertia chirata, Rheum emodi, Gentiana kurroa, Picrorhiza sp, Centella asiatica, Aconitum sp, Inula racemosa, Artimissia sp, Bunium persicum, Onosoma bracteatum, Orchis latifolia, Saussurea lappa occur abundantly in the western Himalayas. In estern and north eastern and north eastern region, Chlorphytum sp, Dioscorea sp, Swertia sp, Aconitum sp, Rheum, sp, {{Coptis teeta}e}, Aristolochia sp, Mucuna pruriens, Cymbopogon sp, Solanum sp, Croton tigleum, Curcuma aromatica, Piper cubeba and Rauvolfia serpentina are available. The deccan peninsular and southern region (Western ghats and Malabar region) is rich in Chlorophytum sp, Curculigo orchioides, {{Celastrus paniculatus}e}, Plumbago zeylanicum, {{Gymnema sylvestre}e}, Strychnos nux-vomica, Curcuma sp, Piper sp, Dioscorea sp. In gangetic plains, the prominent medicinal herbs are {{Psoralea coryifolia}e}, Tinospora cordifolia, Sida sp, {{Phyllanthus fraternus}e}, Cymbopogon sp and Vetiveria sp. Under arid and semi-arid region, Calotropis sp, Aloe barbadensis, Tribulus terrestris, Withania somnifera are common. Indian forests are also the reservoir for medicinal herbs. They supported and accelerated the evolution and speciation of a large number of natural herbs. The medicinal herbs are adapted to a wide range of agro-climatic conditions and soil texture. Some of them also prefer to grow under degraded soil and wastelands. However, these areas are being quickly captured/occupied by parthenium. They, therefore, undergo continuous struggle/interference with parthenium, in which parthenium definitely becomes the winner. And thus the existence of economic herbs in these very areas is under threat. Parthenium lacks natural enemies. Even cattle do not feed on it. As a result the food chain gets disturbed, the trophic structure changes leading to ecological imbalance. The chemical constituents mainly sesquiterpence lactones (parthenin & coronopilin) present in almost all the plant parts impart it a number of ecological and biological advantages. Parthenin is responsible for toxicity, contact dermatitis and allelopathic properties. Besides alkaloids, saponins, flavonoids, tannins, unsaturated sterols, some phenolic acids viz., caffeic acid, p-coumaric acid, p-hydroxybenzoic acid, anisic and ferulic acids are also present in its aqueous extract as well as in root rhizosphere soil. All these cause inhibition of germination of other plant/herbs at the vicinity and allow parthenium to dominate. Parthenium causes considerable yield reduction to the tune of 40% in agricultural crops ({{groundnut}e}, {{cotton}e}, rice, hybrid {{sorghum}e}, {{maize}e}, soybean, safflower, {{sunflower}e}, {{pea}e}, niger, {{horse gram}e}, sesamum, castor, sugarcane, mulberry, millet, hybrid Napier grass, vegetables like bean, chilli, tomato and potato and up to 90% in forage production in grassland. Even horticultural crops like coconut, sapota, guava, {{grapes}e}, {{banana}e}, mango and arecanut are not spred. Parthenium grows well in almost all soil. The growth is more luxuriant in black soil as compared to laterite soil. It prevails all the year round due to its day-neutral habit, temperature insensitivity, drought tolerance and absence of seed dormancy. Under arid conditions, the weed has very high survivability due to low photorespiration and emerges through out the year, where other plants/herbs hardly withstand. Its seed germinate on a wide range of soil pH from 2.5 to 10.0 Soil alkalinity may suppress its growth with rains. High regenerative and reproductive potential of the weed are the other favourable reasons for its widespread. Root stumps, petiole and even detached midrib have the ability to regenerate. However, most of the natural herbs are not equipped with these versatile characters and as a result, they cannot withstand in close competition with it and their population is under gradual decline. |
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