Scientific Cultivation of Sweet Flag (Achorus calamus L.) under Wetland Ecosystem of North Bihar
B. R. Jana
ICAR- RCER, Research Centre on Makhana, Darbhanga, Bihar (846 005), India
DOI: NIL
Keywords: B:C ratio, Cultivars, Fertilizer, Sweet flag
Abstract
Sweet flag (Acorus calamus L.), is one of the most important aquatic medicinal plants grown in India. It is an important crop of family Achoraceae but recently placed in family Araceae. Average sweet flag production is 1.6 ton of rhizome (dry) acre-1 annually in India. Nowadays, it is being used in medicine for alleviating rheumatic pain and illness and used as an aphrodisiac as it contain some important amino acids and flavonoid compound. The essential oil of A. calamus was found to be effective against storage pest and root knot nematode larvae. With the recent agro techniques a fertilizer dose of N:P:K @ 45:15:30 kg acre-1 and FYM @ 2-3.0 t acre-1 resulting in higher yield. Spraying of ZnSO4 2-3% at the young stage significantly increased the rhizome production. The maximum fresh yield is of 40.0 Q acre-1 fresh and cleaned rhizome was obtained from Tumkur-1 cultivar, which was introduced from Karnataka. Dry rhizome yield is 16.0 Q/acre resulting in i.e., B:C ratio of 1.63:1 under the wetland ecosystem of North Bihar.
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Reference
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