Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Sustainable Harvesting of Terminalia arjuna (Roxb.) Wight & Arnot (Arjuna) and Litsea glutinosa (Lour.) Robinson (Maida) Bark in Central India

2012; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 31; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/10549811.2011.583865

1540-756X

Ashok Kumar Pandey, Asim K. Mandal,

Plant biochemistry and biosynthesis

Abstract Terminalia arjuna ("Arjuna") in the family Combretaceae is a well-known medicinal tree whose bark is extensively used in Ayurvedic medicine, particularly as a cardiac tonic. Demand for Arjuna bark, both in India and abroad, has been growing rapidly for over a decade. Litsea glutinosa ("Maida") in the family Lauraceae is a medium size tree. Its bark is used to treat joint pain, fracture, sprain, arthritis, back pain, and indigestion. Presently the bark of Arjuna and Maida is being extracted through unscientific and destructive harvesting practices. This is the first study on development of sustainable harvesting practices of Arjuna and Maida bark. The stages of bark recovery varied from tree to tree. Age of tree, harvesting method, and season of harvest influenced bark regeneration. This study recommends that for sustainable harvest, mature bark from only one fourth to one third of the total girth of the tree should be stripped by removing only outer and middle bark, leaving the inner bark for regeneration. However, strip harvesting was found to be the best method in younger trees having a girth at breast height (GBH) of less than 60 cm. Sustainable bark harvesting can be done after every 2 yr for Arjuna and 1 yr for Maida by removing opposite quarters of trunk bark. Keywords: sustainable harvesting Terminalia arjuna Litsea glutinosa central India Acknowledgments The authors would like to acknowledge financial assistance from Chhattisgarh Minor Forest Produce Co-operative Federation (Marketing and Trade), Raipur, India for conducting this research. We thank local inhabitants of the area for their support during the study. This article was presented at the World Conference on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (WOCMAP) from November 9–14, 2008 in Cape Town, South Africa.