0705-B3

Ex-situ Conservation, Cultivation and Sustainable Use of Some Medicinal Plants

Somesh Gupta ^{1 *}, Rizwan Khan², Vishal Saxena³, Ram Jee Srivastava⁴, Ashwani Kumar⁵

Abstract

India ranks sixth under world's twelve mega bio-diversity zones. Out of these, two of them exist in our country. India possesses tremendous ecological bio-diversity. It contains 5 % of the world's bio-diversity on 2 % of the earth's surface. The biodiversity in our country is unique in nature and its in-situ and ex-situ conservation is very well needed. In recent years, the global demand of herbs has led to a quantum jump in volume of medicinal plants traded within and across the countries. The medicinal plants have been identified as one of the most important plant diversities for rural development. The use of plants as medicine is as old as human civilization itself. India is home to about 15000 to 18000 of flowering plants of which about 8000 plant species are recognized as medicinal plants and are being used by various traditional systems of medicine.

In Uttar Pradesh, Vindhyan and Bundelkhand regions, being native of many important medicinal plants, have a great potential for their conservation and cultivation.

This paper deals with the conservation and nursery technique of some important medicinal plants, their usages and contribution in development of tribal economy in Vindhyan region of U.P. The species selected are of great importance as far as the economics of region is concerned. The nursery techniques as described in this paper can be successfully adopted by the cultivators in order to uplift their economic conditions. By doing so, we will not only be able to conserve the precious wealth of medicinal plants but we will also achieve the goal of conserving the biodiversity of species, which are threatened and at the verge of extinction.

Introduction

During recent years, ethno botanical research on medicinal plants is getting much importance and it has now been considered as thrust area in the field of biological research. India ranks sixth under world's twelve mega bio-diversity zones. Out of these, two of them exist in our country. India possesses tremendous ecological bio-diversity. It contains 5 % of the world's bio-diversity on 2 % of the earth's surface. It is estimated that approximately 45000 plants species i.e. 12 % of global wealth of flowering plants (Jain, 1987) exist, out of which nearly 33% are endemic.(Gupta, et. al 2002)

The biodiversity in our country is unique in nature and its in-situ and ex-situ conservation is very well needed. In recent years, the global demand of herbs has led to a quantum jump in volume of medicinal plants traded within and across the countries. The medicinal plants have been identified as one of the most important plant diversities for the rural development.

Technically, medicinal plants come under NTFP and there is a great potential for probable cultivation of medicinal plants for biodiversity conservation in India. Their identification, conservation and cultivation for rural development is still in infancy. (Mishra, 2002) )

It is well known that lot of emphasis is being given on conservation and cultivation of medicinal plants by Govt. of India. There is need to take up intensive cultivation through people's participation in the forest areas as well as agricultural lands.

The medicinal and aromatic crops are economically important as they provide the basic raw material for pharmaceutical, perfumery, flavor, soaps and cosmetic industries throughout the world. Since, most of the crops are new and uncommon, the farmers often lack knowledge in their scientific cultivation. The information on the cultivation of medicinal and aromatic crops is also scanty, scattered and mostly beyond the reach of even progressive farmers.

The use of plants as medicine is as old as human civilization itself. India is home to about 15000 to 18000 of flowering plants of which about 8000 plant species are recognized as medicinal plants and are being used by various traditional systems of medicine. The global demand for medicine and aromatic plants is growing at the rate of 7% per annum (Rao, et. al 1999).

In Uttar Pradesh, Vindhyan and Bundelkhand regions, being native of many important medicinal plants, have a great potential for their conservation and cultivation.

This paper deals with the conservation and nursery technique of some important medicinal plants, their usages and contribution in development of tribal economy in Vindhyan region of U.P.

Need for Conservation

According to World Conservation Strategy (IUCN, UNEP and WWF, 1980) conservation is defined as " the management of human use of the biodiversity so that it may yield the greatest sustainable benefit to the present generation while maintaining its potential to meet the needs and aspirates of future generations" (Udvardy, 1984).

The forest areas in the state of Uttar Pradesh are very rich in variety of medicinal plant species particularly in the Vindhyan region where various medicinal plants grow naturally. According to Planning Commission Report (2000) the primary goal of biodiversity conservation as envisaged in World Conservation Strategy is summarized below:

i) Maintaining of essential ecological process and its life support system.
ii) Preservation of genetic diversity
iii) Sustainable Management.

The medicinal plants are basic raw material for the production of Ayurveda and Unani medicine medicines. The bulk of the raw material (about 80% of the demand) is derived from the forests only. Hence, the forest areas have been over exploited in the past to meet the requirement of the pharmaceutical and allied industries. Consequently, many of the important plant species have been threatened and some of them are on the verge of extension due to unscientific collection by untrained persons.

In recent years, medicinal plants have also been gaining immense popularity not only in developing countries but also in developed countries due to various well-known reasons like side effects of synthetic drugs. Therefore, the demand for the basic raw material has been further increased and forest areas are hardly able to meet this increasing demand of industries. In view of the aforesaid reasons, there is an urgent need to conserve and to propagate some important medicinal plants species so as to save them from extinction and also to ensure greater availability of raw material.

Materials and Methods

Area, Topography and Climate

The Vindhyan region consists of the Vindhyan plateau and the hills in the southern part of the state and lies between 23^o52'- 24^o21' N Latitude to 82^o42'-88⁰24'E Longitude. The soil of this region varies considerably but most of the area has red lateritic soils with often-pronounced nodules locally called "Murram". The depth of the soil also varies and much of the area has a soil depth of just a few cm. Deep and fertile soils are often found in the valleys between folds of hills where the soil washed from hill slopes has accumulated. Hence, the topography presents a contrast from bare rocky out crops alternating with good deep soils. The climate of the area is characterized by a long and intensely hot summer, low rainfall and a short mild winter. The hot weather usually begins from middle of March and extends up to the break of the monsoon till June. The summer temperature goes up to 48⁰C in May and June. However, the average temperature varies between 8⁰ to 34⁰ C. The rainfall varies from 750-mm. to about 1200 mm. Most of the rainfall occurs in the month of June, July and August. There is a little winter rain also which occur generally in January and February and are sometimes substantial, fairly regular as compared with other part of the state (Dubey, et. al 2001).

Biotic Pressure

There is heavy biotic pressure in this area causing enormous damage to the ecological balance of the forest ecosystem, reducing their capacity to regenerate naturally. Overgrazing by livestock is one of the most important causes of removal of vegetative cover. Hence, ex-situ conservation of precious vegetational wealth is the only solution to restore the ecological balance of this fragile ecosystem.

Selection of Species and Source of Collection

An extensive survey was conducted in Vindhyan region of U.P. for selection and identification of superior quality seed/planting material of medicinal plants. For this purpose, different areas were selected and identified. The details of selected medicinal plant species and source of collection of seed / vegetative material has been given in table-1.

Table-1 Selected Medicinal Plant Species and Source of Collection

Conservation and Cultivation Technique

Because of the complexity of the biodiversity, species assemblages and habitat type have to be used as majors of biodiversity (Margules and Pressey, 2000). Hence, to improve the habitat, certain ex-situ conservation technology was developed to conserve and multiply the selected medicinal plants of this region.

Establishment of Research Nursery

A research nursery (1.0 ha) has been established at Upper Khajuri Nursery, Kotwa Research Range (Mirzapur) for developing nursery techniques of selected medicinal plants. The seedbeds were prepared and polythene bags were filled with mixture of

Soil: FYM : Sand in ratio of 4:2:1.

Soil Characteristics

The soil sample from Kotwa (Mirzapur) Nursery were collected and analysed for phsico-chemical characteristics at Forest Research Institute, U.P., Kanpur. The analysis report is as under.

Soil Sample: (Depth: 0-30 cm.)

Nursery Technique

The nursery technique of selected medicinal plants as developed by F.R.I., U.P., Kanpur has been given in table 2.

Conclusion

The Vindhyan region of Uttar Pradesh has abundant medicinal wealth, which has got tremendous commercial national as well as global potentials. The species selected are of great importance as far as the economics of region is concerned. The nursery techniques as given in above table can be successfully adopted by the cultivators in order to uplift their economic conditions. By doing so, we will not only be able to conserve the precious wealth of medicinal plants but also we will achieve the goal of conserving the biodiversity of species, which are threatened, and at the verge of extinction.

Bibliography

Dubey, P., Mishra, P., Srivastava, R.J., Burfal, B.S. and Dixit, R.K. (2001). Technology to Conserve Biodiversity of Vindhyan Region. Proc. Int. Symposium Tropical Forestry Research: Challenges in the New Millanium. pp. 59-61

Gupta, Somesh, Saxena, Vishal and Mishra Rajeev (2002). Conserving Biodiversity of Bundelkhand Region of U.P. through People's Participation. 72^nd Session Annual Session  of NASI, Shillong. pp. 62

Jain. S.K. (1987). The problem of endangered species: its study and solution. Presidential address. Biological Sciences, 57^th Academy of Sciences, Allahabad.

Margules, C. R. and Pressey, R. L. (2000) Systematic Conservation Planting. Nature, 405: 243-253.

Mishra, R. (2002). Role of Medicinal Plants in Rural Development. 72^nd Session Annual Session of NASI, Shillong. pp. 59

Rao, P. S., Venkaiah, K., Satyanarayana, V.V.V. and Padmaja, R. (1999). Cultivation of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants. Rajahmundry.

Udvardy, M.D.F.(1984). A classification of Biogeographic provenances of worlds. I. U. C. N. and National resources GIAND.

¹ Forest Research Institute, U.P.
18 - G. T. Road, Kanpur-208 024. India
E mail: [email protected]
Phones: 91-512-541092 (Office)
91-512-313477 (Resi.)

1-3 Research Fellow
4. Forest Influences Officer & Soil Scientist
5. Conservator of Forests, Research, U.P.
* Corresponding author