Research Article
Cultivation of Rose Scented Geranium (Pelargonium sp.) as a Cash Crop in Kashmir Valley
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T. Kumar
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Nahida Chishti
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S. Shabir
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Rose scented Geranium (Family Geraniaceae) is an important high value perennial, aromatic shrub originated from South Africa as well as reunion Madagascar, Egypt and Morocco. The plant was introduced to Italy, Spain and France in 17th century. There are 700 different species and only 10 are utilized for production of geranium oil. Pelargonium odorantissimum, P. asperum, P. graveolens, P. crispum, P. radula, P. capitatum, P. roseus, P. tomentosum, P. zonale and P. roseum. It is generally believed that present day cultivars cultivated for distillation of oil rich in citronellol or geraniol content are referred as Pelargonium species (Kaul et al., 1996). However other botanical names such as Pelargonium graveolens and P. roseum are also in use. To avoid ambiguity the plant is referred as Pelargonium species, until the botanical identity of these cultivars is firmly suggested. Common geraniums which are largely grown for ornamental purposes have no relation with Rose scented geranium, which produces geranium oil of commerce (Rajeshwara, 2000, 2002).
Geranium was introduced in India in 1900-1915 by two French nationals and got acclimatized to South Indian climate. Presently two types of geraniums called Algerian or Tunisian and Bourbon or Re-union are identified in India. Another cultivar Kelkar has been recently introduced by M/S SH Kelkar and Co-Mumbai, a leading flavour and fragrance company in India (Ram et al., 2003). In India Geranium is being grown in Nilgiri, Pulney Hills of Tamil Nadu, Plains of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh. Rose Geranium is cultivated as a rainfed perennial crop in hilly areas of South India and an annual crop in plains of Northern India (Rajeshwara et al., 1990). Significant data is available on scented Geranium cultivated in different parts of India and its processing for essential oil (Jain et al., 2001).
Essential oil obtained by distillation of aerial parts (fresh flowers, leaf and stalks) is extensively used in perfumery and cosmetic industries. It is employed as a flavouring agent in many major food categories alcoholic and soft drinks. Traditionally it is also used to staunch bleeding, healing of wounds, ulcers, skin disorders, diarrhoea, dysentry and colic. The oil has antibacterial and insecticidal properties and substantial use in aromatherapy. The current international demand is more than 600 tons mostly met by countries like China, Morocco, Egypt, Reunion Island and South Africa (Anonymous, 1996-1997). As against the annual consumption of 149 tons India produces 5 tons of Geranium oil annually and rest is met largely through imports (Rao and Bhattacharya, 1992).
As part of institutes programme to develop the agro and processing technologies of high value crops and to spread the area under cultivation to other agro climatic zones of country, rose scented geranium cv. Bourbon was successfully grown in Kashmir valley. The present study describes the cultivation, essential oil composition of rose geranium in Kashmir valley.
Geranium cuttings cv. Bourbon were made in the first week of November and grown in the nursery beds of conventional polyhouses (18x4 m). About 16-20 healthy cuttings were obtained from reserve plants obtained from Banglore. Cuttuings took 60-70 days for rooting. The plantlets arising from the cuttings that survived (up to 85%) were transplanted in the first week of March in the field plots at a spacing of 0.5x0.5 m at RRL field station Pulwama. A light irrigation was done immediately by rose canes after planting. A uniform basal dose of 50 kg ha-1 each of P2O5 and K2O was applied through DAP and muriate of potash respectively at the time of planting. Nitrogen was applied through Urea fertilizer as per treatment in four equal split doses. The crop received four flood irrigations. The plants were nurtured in the fields as per standard agronomical practices. Climatic, soil factors and other experimental details are presented in Table 1. Harvesting is done by a sickle after 150 days of planting at a height of 15 cm from the ground. The essential oil content in the fresh herbage was estimated by hydrodistillation using clevenger apparatus on the laboratory scale and also by steam distillation followed by cohabation on pilot scale.
Gas Chromatography (GC): GC analysis of an oil sample was carried out on PE gas chromatograph 8500 series with flame Ionisation Detector (I.D) using a fused silica capillary column(30x0.32 mm ID) coated with dimethyl siloxane (BP-I). Oven temperature was programmed from 60 to 220°C at 5.5°C min-1. Injector temperature 250°C and detector temperature 300°C, Carrier gas nitrogen at 8 psi, split ratio being 1:80.
Table 1: | Climatic, soil and experimental details at RRL field station Pulwama |
GC-MS data obtained on PE mass spectrophotometer using a PE wax column (60x0.32 mm, id, film thickness 0.25 μm); carrier gas helium; temperature programming, 5 min at 70°C then rising at 2°C min and 3°C min-1 upto 240°C. The compounds were identified by peak enrichment on co-injection with standard compounds and comparison of kovat retention indices from C-9 to C-21 alkanes with literature values and finally by comparison of mass spectra of peaks with published data (Jennings and Shibamoto, 1980 and Adams 1990).
The herbaceous parts of scented Geranium (Pelargonium sp.) cv Bourbon gave an oil in 0.15% yield on fresh weight basis on steam distillation followed by cohabation of distilled waters which is higher as compared to South and North Indian conditions (Rajeshwara et al., 1990; Jain et al., 2001) GC and GC-MS analysis led to the identification of 53 constituents representing 96% of total oil. The relative concentration of the identified constituents is presented in Table 2 according to their elution on BP-1 column.
The major constituents from Kashmir and South Indian parts of India are citronellol (25.77 and 26.7%), Geraniol (20.81 and 24.1%), linalool (11.94 and 6.7%), Citronellyl formate (8.04 and 8.20%) and isomenthone (7.58 and 7.90%). The percentage of linalool was higher in Kashmir sample. On the contrary % of 10 γ-epi-eudesmol was lower in our sample which may be due to the variation in agroclimatic and geographical condition (Ram et al., 1995). The aerial parts on lab. scale yielded an essential oil of 0.22% on fresh weight basis. While on pilot scale the aerial parts yielded an essential oil of 0.15% on fresh weight basis. Herbage yield from the first harvest was 28t and essential oil yield recorded 37 kg ha-1 on pilot scale which is comparable to South Indian data. The IInd harvest was taken in the IInd week of October in Kashmir, the herbage yield from the IInd harvest was 9.33t which is one third of the first harvest and the essential oil yield recorded in the IInd harvest was 7 kg ha-1.
Table 2: | Chemical composition of essential oil of Rose Scented Geranium |
t = traces; *Source: Kaul et al. (1996) |
Preliminary experiments initiated at RRL field station Pulwama further revealed that geranium can be suitably integrated with major horticulture crops like apple as companion crop and thus permit increased harvest per unit area land, thereby higher economic returns. The freshly laid apple crops take several years till fruiting. During this period there are no returns. To make it more remunerative the land between the rows can be utilized by cultivating this high value crop. On the basis of above findings it is quite evident that the oil produced in the temperate climate of Kashmir is quite competitive with the best geranium oil produced in South India. Percentage composition of major constituents also shows the stability of Bourbon cultivar.
Given proper conditions, like creation of market linkages, better distillation facilities, development of cost effective agrotechnologies, incentives to farmers and increased Government/user industry interaction J and K state can become major producer of geranium oil.