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Notes For UG Agriculture Students 2

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10 views

Notes For UG Agriculture Students 2

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HNTR Gaming
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Vetiver

Importance and chemical composition


➢ Vetiver or khus (Vetiveria zizanioides) (syn. Chrysopogon zizanioides) belonging to
family Poaceae, is a grass found growing on various types of soils.

➢ The underground part of the plant consists of numerous fine rootlets of light- yellow or
grey to reddish in colour, which contains a viscous essential oil with a pleasant and
persistent odour.

➢ The commercial oil of vetiver is obtained by the distillation of the root. In India, the plant
is known as „khus khus‟. Khus meaning ‘aromatic root’.

➢ The major constituents are vetivone, vetiverols, vetiverenyl, vetivernate, benzoic acid and
palmitic acid.

➢ The economic part of the plant is the root, which possesses a most agreeable aroma and is
employed to scent clothes, either by itself or in the form of sachets.

➢ From time immemorial, vetiver roots have been employed to make baskets, hand fans
and mats which when sprinkled with water and hung like curtains in houses, cool the air
and emanate a pleasant odour.

Cultivation:

➢ Vetiver can be grown on almost every kind of soil. Light soils, however, should be
avoided as the roots obtained produce a very low percentage of oil. Well drained, sandy
loam and red lateritic soil rich in organic matter are considered to be ideal as the roots
produced in such soils are thick and contain more essential oil.

➢ It can be grown even in saline and alkaline soils, with a pH range of 8.5 to 10.0.

Climate:

➢ The crop prefers tropical and subtropical climate for its proper growth, development and
essential oil yield. It grows luxuriantly in places with an annual rainfall of about 1000 to
2000 mm, the temperature ranging from 21-44° C and with a moderately humid climate.
➢ In the places which are otherwise suitable but have scanty rainfall, it can be grown as an
irrigated crop.

Propagation:

➢ Vetiver is propagated from seeds or slips. Seeding is found to be profuse in the crop,
in areas where it occurs in the wild and regeneration takes place from self sown seeds
and the rains received.

➢ In south India where the crop is cultivated on a large scale, the non seeding type is
grown.

➢ These clumps, when broken, give a number of slips.

Pests and diseases:

➢ There are no serious insect pests except for the ants attack the roots.

Diseases:

➢ Very few diseases have been reported on vetiver. During the rainy season the plant is
attacked by Fusarium spp. It can be effectively controlled by drenching the soil with
Bordeaux mixture (1%).

Harvesting and yield:

➢ The time of harvesting is very important as the yield of roots and oil percentage vary with
changes in environmental conditions.

➢ The crop planted in July should be harvested after 18 months to get the maximum oil
yield.

➢ Harvesting is usually done during the dry season from December to February, by
manually digging out the bush along with its roots.

➢ The roots are then separated from the base, washed and dried under shade for 1-2days
before distillation.

➢ This improves the quality of the essential oil, while prolonged drying in the sun reduces
the yield.
➢ A root yield of up to 14-18 q/ha has been obtained in North India

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