Cultivation And Utilization Of Aromatic Plants

Aroma has played a vital role, directly as well as indirectly, in the life of human beings since its appearance on the earth as a result of evolution. India, Egypt and Persia were amongst the first countries to have conceived the process of distillation of essential oils. Aromatic plants have essential or aromatic oils naturally occurring in them. They help heal mental ailments and other diseases. India is endowed with a rich wealth of medicinal plants. Aromatic (Aroma Producing) plants are those plants which produce a certain type of aroma. Their aroma is due to the presence of some kind of essential oil with chemical constituents that contain at least one benzene ring in the their chemical configuration. These plants have made a good contribution to the development of ancient Indian material medica. In recent years, there has been a tremendous growth of interest in plant based drugs, pharmaceuticals, perfumery products, cosmetics and aroma compounds used in food flavors and fragrances and natural colors in the world. The chemical nature of these aromatic substances may be due to a variety of complex chemical compounds. There is a definite trend to adopt plant based products due to the cumulative derogatory effects resulting from the use of antibiotic and synthetics and except for a few cultivated crops, the availability of plant based material is mainly from the natural sources like forests and wastelands. There is a need to introduce these crops into the cropping system of the county, which, besides meeting the demands of the industry, will also help to maintain the standards on quality, potency and chemical composition. During the past decade, demand for aromatic plants and its products has attracted the worldwide interest, India being the treasure house of biodiversity, accounts for thousands of species which are used in herbal drugs. 90% of herbal industry requirement of raw material is taken out from the forests. This book basically deals with cultivation of matricaria chamomilla, present agro production technology status of celery, cultivation of ocimum gratissimum linn. var clocimum, the production and perfume potential of jasminum collections, chemical modification of turmeric oil to more value added products, biologically active compounds from turpentine oil, folk medicinal uses of indigenous aromatic plants in nepal , traditional uses of selected aromatic plants of bhutan and their cultivation prospects, blending aspects of perfumes with turpentine constituents, the chemistry of mint flavour, essential oils of cinnamomum species, citral containing cymbopogon species etc. The aim of publishing this book is to provide multidisciplinary information on aromatic plants. The book covers method of cultivation and utilization of various aromatic plants. This is very useful book for farmers, technocrats, agriculture universities, libraries, new entrepreneurs etc.

Papers presented at various symposia and contributed articles.

This book on 'Aromatic Plants' contains seven s. Introductory on 'History, importance and scope of aromatic plants' deals with the importance of aromatic crops and their close association with human health and beauty care from time immemorial. History of development of cultivation and aroma based industries in different regions of the world is described to emphasize their significance, scope and role in increasing the quality of human life. Classification of aromatic plants based on their climatic requirement, growth habit and floral morphology elaborated in succeeding will be of great interest to students, researchers and farmers. on 'Extraction of aroma principles' describes traditional as well as modern techniques employed for efficient extraction of volatile oils and oleo-resins from different plants materials and equipments employed for the purpose. Quality of oil is found to vary significantly with ecotypes, season, time of collection, crop maturity and weather conditions prevailing during the growth period, extraction method and duration of extraction process. Conditions and duration of storage also have a bearing on quality of essential oil. This necessitates development and imposition of appropriate quality standards in trade. These aspects are covered in fourth on 'Quality assurance of essential oils'. Aromatic oils & their derivatives and combinations occupy a covetable position in holistic medicines such as aromatherapy. on 'Aromatherapy' details the use of essential oils in human health care, techniques employed, aromatherapy message, aromatic bath, facial care, hair care etc. Information on aromatic oil's vide spread application to relieve stress and rejuvenate body are also included. Sixth and seventh s deal with major and other sources of aromatic oils. Under major sources, 17 aromatic crops and under other sources, 25 crops and discussed in detail. These s include the common name, botanical name and synonyms if any and family, vernacular names, importance and uses, habitat and distribution, agro technology, soil, climate, season, land preparation, planting, seed rate and spacing manurial and fertilizer recommendation, irrigation, weed control, pest control, harvest, propagation techniques, herbal yield, extraction and utilization, oil recovery, oil composition, properties of oil, storage requirements etc.

Medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) are invaluable natural resources of use to human race, without which the survival of human/ animal race is incredible. There is an enormous diversity of plants which are put into medicinal, beauty care and culinary purposes. Cultivation of commercially important medicinal plants is in high demand as the global community is growing towards a green and herbal oriented approach. India as a country has thousands of years old traditional medicinal systems which rely solely on medicinal plants. There is a gradual loss of medicinal plants with the increasing demand of plant derived drugs. Majority of medicinal plants are still collected from the wild. This doesn't meet the demand and thereby pave ways to adulterants. The over extraction and ignorant activities cause biodiversity loss. Farm production of MAPs in these days is extremely vulnerable to underlying climate risk. Sustainable management of these resources requires urgent attention for environmental stability and improvement of livelihood. New income generating opportunities are opening up for rural populations and in particular for small-scale farmers as well as marginal farmers through MAPs cultivation. New generation are not well aware of the various uses of many plants to which it was put before. Thus there is an urgent need to spread the knowledge and conserve the wild populations of medicinal plant diversity in various forest areas of India. Considering the importance of the MAPs, an attempt was taken in this edited book to understand and highlight the role of MAPs in livelihood improvement and income generation through cultivation, conservation and utilisation. Most of the chapters in this book dealt with individual medicinal plants in detail. Two chapters have also been included on pests and diseases management of MAPs. Nowadays, IPR issues are more important. One chapter has been included on IPR issues on medicinal plants. A chapter also devoted on value addition of the medicinal plant products.

Aromatic plants have essential or aromatic oils naturally occurring in them. They help heal mental ailments and other diseases. India is endowed with a rich wealth of medicinal plants. Aromatic (Aroma Producing) plants are those plants which produce a certain type of aroma. Their aroma is due to the presence of some kind of essential oil with chemical constituents that contain at least one benzene ring in the their chemical configuration. The chemical nature of these aromatic substances may be due to a variety of complex chemical compounds. These plants have made a good contribution to the development of ancient Indian material medica. In recent years, there has been a tremendous growth of interest in plant based drugs, pharmaceuticals, perfumery products, cosmetics and aroma compounds used in food flavors and fragrances and natural colors in the world. There is a definite trend to adopt plant based products due to the cumulative derogatory effects resulting from the use of antibiotic and synthetics and except for a few cultivated crops, the availability of plant based material is mainly from the natural sources like forests and wastelands. There is a need to introduce these crops into the cropping system of the county, which, besides meeting the demands of the industry, will also help to maintain the standards on quality, potency and chemical composition. During the past decade, demand for aromatic plants and its products has attracted the worldwide interest, India being the treasure house of biodiversity, accounts for thousands of species which are used in herbal drugs. 90% of herbal industry requirement of raw material is taken out from the forests. Some fundamentals of this book are botanical description of the plant, genetic improvement , harvesting, intercropping, transplantation, irrigation and weeding, vanilla cultivation in India, commercial cultivation of vanilla, distillation of herbage for essential oil, effect of growth hormones, jasmine crop improvement & agrotechniques, efforts for new variety of jasminum auriculatum , essential oils of agarwood, cinnamomum tamala leaves, eucalyptus citriodora and caultheria pragrantissima, past and future of sandal wood oil industry, by product development from turmeric and ginger rhizomes, isolation of essential oils and its flavour profile etc. This book contains most of the important aspects related to aromatic plants. It is being published for those who are interested in growing, processing and trading of aromatic plants.

Medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) have accompanied mankind from its very early beginnings. Their utilization has co-evolved with homo sapiens itself bringing about a profound increase in our scientific knowledge of these species enabling them to be used in many facets of our life (e.g. pharmaceutical products, feed- and food additives, cosmetics, etc.). Remarkably, despite the new renaissance of MAPs usage, ca. 80 % of the world’s population is relying on natural substances of plant origin, with most of these botanicals sourced from the wild state. This first volume and ultimately the series, provides readers with a wealth of information on medicinal and aromatic plants.