My experiments and experiences with aromatic crop Lemon Grass (Cymbopogon flexuosus), in Chhattisgarh, India

Research Note - Pankaj Oudhia
© 2001,2002,2003 Pankaj Oudhia - All Rights Reserved

Lemon grass is not a native to Chhattisgarh. But it is present since generations in our state as popular herb in home gardens. The special herbal tea prepared by dipping and boiling the fresh leaves of this herb, commonly known as Nimbughas, is very popular among natives. Although it is not a native to Chhattisgarh, but living with this herb since generations, the traditional healers of Chhattisgarh have discovered many unique medicinal uses of Lemon grass. Many of these uses have not been reported in reference literatures. The healers are using this herb as medicine both internally and externally, in treatment of over 30 common diseases. Among natives, the Lemon tea is popular as just to become refresh and to change the taste, but during my ethnobotanical surveys in different parts of Chhattisgarh, I have noted that the healers use this herbal tea as medicine to treat many diseases. They are also aware of standard doses and according to them, this herbal tea should not be used daily upto long time, as it may cause harmful effects on human health. Unfortunately, the natives are not aware of this and many of them are using it as routine or habit. As commercial crop ,Lemon grass was introduced in Chhattisgarh in the year 1994, When many innovative farmers came back after attending farmer’s training courses by various governmental and non-governmental organisations, outside the state. With them, they brought the improved variety Pragati in small quantity for initial multiplication. As they were not aware of actual price of planting material the nurseries and consultants cheated them badly and charged many times higher rates. As the climate and edaphic factors of Chhattisgarh are very suitable for its commercial cultivation, the small quantity of initial material multiplied very rapidly and within few years, it spread in hundreds of acres. This is very surprising that after introduction of improved variety Pragati, even a single new variety was not introduced in the state till the year 2001. As area under Lemon grass increased, many innovative farmers decided to establish the processing units for extraction of oil. The establishement of the processing unit motivated the beginners to enter in this new field and to stop the cultivation of traditional crops. Today over 150 herb growers are growing this herb commercially and most of them have their own processing units. I was aware of the introduction of this new crop in Chhattisgarh, but I got first opportunity to work this crop when the owner of Arvind Agriculture came to me in the year 1997, and showed interest in large scale cultivation of medicinal and aromatic crops particularly the Lemon grass.

Major botanical differences between two Cymbopogon species.
Characteristics	Cymbopogon	Cymbopogon
	citratus	martini
1) Habit	A tall perennial, throwing up dense fascicles of leaves from a short rhizome, culm stout, erect	A tall perennial sweet scented grass, stem straw coloured, leafy.
2) Leaves	Linear tapering upwords to a point, upto over 90 cm long, glaucous green, smooth or rough upwards and along the margins, midrib whitish on the upper side, sheaths of the culm tight, velvety at the nodes.	Flat, usually broad, subcordate or rounded at the base, glaucous beneath those below the inflorescence, margins scabrid.
3) Flowers	In decompound spatheate panicles 30to over 60 cm long nodding.	Spikes 2 nate, 12-18 mm long, oblique or divaricate.

As mentioned earlier, it was new crop for the farmers, there was no recommended package of practice for its commercial cultivation for Chhattisgarh conditions. The farmers were just following the recommendations of researchers from other states. Before starting its commercial cultivation, I decided to visit to the herb growers, already active in this field. I prepared a special (but small) questionnaire, in order to list out their problems, they were facing in cultivation. I shocked when I started meeting the farmers. I had never seen such hap-hazard cultivation practices earlier. There were no standardise sowing method, no specific spacing, the farmers were even not bothering about the factors that can alter the quality of oil, the end product. When I analysed my findings, there were over 55 complaints by farmers. Due to regular and good relations with international buyers, my client got buy back order from a reputed German company, engaged in aroma business, but one of their strict conditions was , the organic produce. They were not ready to purchase the oil from chemically grown Lemon grass crop. I searched the reference literatures but they were full of recommendations stating that one must use heavy doses of chemical fertilisers in order to get more and more production. Many Indian organisations are working and conducting detailed research on this important crop since decades but no one has developed organic cultivation practices for this crop. During the search of literatures, I read many scientific claims that the chemical inputs are not harmful for quality but that company was not ready to accept it. That was really embracing situation for me. Finally, I decided to accept the challenge. Before describing the experiments and research findings, I am describing the botany and reported medicinal uses of Lemon grass, as its name is coming for the first time in my articles. According to reference literatures, Lemon grass is a tall, perennial, throwing updense fasciclles of leaves from a short rhizome; Culm stout, erect, upto over 1.8 meter high; Leaves linear tapering upwards and along the margins; midrib whitish on the upper side; Ligule very short; Sheaths terete, those of the barren shoots widened and tightly clasping at the base, others narrow and separating; sheaths of the culm tight, velvety at the nodes; Flowers in decompound spatheate Panicles 30 to 60 over 60 cm long, nodding. According to Ayurveda, the grass is pungent, bitter, sharp, hot, laxative, appetiser, alexipharmic, anthelmintic and useful in treatment of bronchitis, leprosy, epileptic fits etc.

Common and popular names of Lemon Grass around the world.
Languages/Regions/Countries	Names
1) Bengal	Gandhabena
2) Myanmar	Sabalin
3) Kanarese	Kavanche hullu, Purhalihulla, Vasanehullu
4) Chinese	Mao Hsiang
5) Colombia	Limancillo
6) English	Lemon grass, Melissa grass
7) French	Chiendent citronelle
8) Hindi	Gandhatrina, Nimbu ghas
9) Marathi	Hirvacha, Olancha, Olencha
10) Persian	Chaekashmiri, Hazarmasalah
11) Portuguese	Herba Cheirosa, Capim de Cheiro
12) Sanskrit	Abichhatraka, Atigandha, Badhira, Bhutina, Karenduka, Sugandha, Jambukapriya
13) Spanish	Grama de limon, Limon cillo
14) Sinhalese	Penquin, Saira
15) Tamil	Karapiurappillu, Vasanappilly
16) Telugu	Chippagadi, Nimmagaddi, Vasangaddi

As mentioned earlier , the only variety available at that time was Pragati. The herb growers complained that this variety has many draw backs. During winter (not very hard in Chhattisgarh) its growth and regrowth stops or slows down, and it take longer time to regain good vigour. With the consent of the owner of Arvind Agriculture, I decided to conducted a detailed varietal trials using all available varieties in different parts of India. Many herb growers were also ready to give me small plots for this experimentation work. I have selected the growers from northern, southern parts and Chhattisgarh plains. I have tried OD-19,OD-40, RRL-39, Praman, CKP - 25, Kaveri and Krishna and compared it with Pragati. During my visit to Oodlabari region (West Bengal), I collected many wild varieties ( I am still not sure) from nearby forests and evaluated its performance but most of these varieties failed to tolerate very high temperature during summer season. In these scientific trials, the variety CKP-25 was identified as best for southern and northern parts, whereas RRL-39 was found best for Chhattisgarh plains. After getting the encouraging results, the company started commercial cultivation in different parts of Chhattisgarh. As organic input, the help of allelopathic studies were taken. Over 100 common herbs, extracts and leachates of its different parts were tested on germination seedling vigour and growth of Lemon grass. Finally, with the help of innovative herb growers, we prepared the herbal decoction using Kukronda (Blumea lacera), Doob (Cynodon dactylon), Chirchita ( Achyranthes aspera), Ratanjot (Jatropha curcas), Fudhar (Calotropis gigantea) etc. Herbs. We have also found the Green spray, a special herbal combination having common weeds, cow urine and fresh dung as main ingredients, very effective as growth promoter in case of Lemon grass. For more information on Green spray. I suggest you to read my previous articles. After detailed research, we developed temporary package of practices. Today the herb growers are using 20 tonnes FYM per hectare before planting of crop and after planting they are applying the herbal decoction and Green spray at week’s interval, alternatively. Although there organic inputs are not enough to result in production that is comparable to the production after use of chemical inputs, but the use of these organic inputs are saving the expenses and resulting in best quality Lemon grass oil. We have yet not got complaint regarding quality from this international buyer. The detailed research works are still in progress. In another experiment, we have found 60x60 cm spacing the best. This recommendation is already in existence in many other Indian states. It is bitter fact that for the established company it is relatively easy to make the commercial cultivation of Lemon grass, a profitable venture but for the farmers, it is still a tough business. You will be surprised to know that in Chhattisgarh, there is not a single organisation, conducting systematic research as per farmers need. Through articles in regional languages, I am publishing my research findings, but it is not reaching to them properly. Many rich farmers have managed to procure the improved varieties from other states but the average farmers are still cultivating Pragati. They are also using two to three times more chemical fertilizers in order to get more and more production and no one is telling them to stop this practice. In place of advanced distillation units, the local manufacturers are supplying, inferior and locally made distillation units to the farmers and as a result the oil recovery is poor and also one can clearly feel the burning smell in the oil. Due to lack of awareness, the use of these units is becoming common. The advanced units require more investment that is not at reach of poor or average farmers. Marketing of oil is also a big problem. Like other herbs, many middlemen are active in this field and they are purchasing the oil at very cheap rates. In Chhattisgarh, there is no advanced laboratory to analyse the samples from farmer’s fields. I personally feel that the non-governmental and governmental organisations active in herbal fields, can play a vital role in this regard. At present, it seems that they are working for rich farmers. Very recently, the scientists of a reputed Indian research organisation organised workshop for the farmers engaged in commercial cultivation of aromatic crops. I am expecting such workshop from regional scientists with their experimental findings suitable for Chhattisgarh conditions.

As mentioned earlier, Lemon grass is not a native to Chhattisgarh, many governmental departments are planting and spreading this introduced species in natural forests in the name of generating employment opportunities and hence, ignoring the fact that this intentional spread will make this useful herb, a problematic weed in Chhattisgarh. The natives of Bastar region complained that the plantation of Lemon grass is now spreading out from the fields and becoming a curse for the natural bio-diversity During the meetings at the state Bio-diversity Action Plan Committee, I pointed out this introduction. The concerned officers of this particular region, replied that in the name of bio-diversity, I am creating the hindrance in generation of employment opportunities in the state. In my laboratory, I conducted series of experiments to evaluate the allelopathic effects of different parts of Lemon grass on indigenous flora, particularly the herbs present in Bastar region. The results were shocking. In laboratory conditions, I have observed the positive (inhibitory) allelopathic effects of this herb and its various parts on germination, seedling vigour and growth of valuable medicinal herbs. Through regular visits in these areas and with the help of natives, I am keeping close vigilance on spread of this grass, in natural forest of Chhattisgarh, Through this article, I would like to request the researchers engaged in studying the allelopathic effects of Lemon grass, to provide more evidences , so that we can convince, the local authorities to stop its further spread.

The traditional healers of Chhattisgarh are also worried due to increasing spread of this introduced species in natural forests of the state. As informed , the traditional healers have rich traditional medicinal knowledge about this useful herb. They use it in treatment of fevers and gynaecological diseases very frequently. In order to get rid from odd smell of many herbs in popular herbal combinations, used externally, the healers add the oil or leaves in the combination. The use of Lemon grass leaves, as aphrodisiac is not reported. The traditional healers use the leaves both internally and externally for this purpose.. According to them, it is just not a smell that contribute, but as herb it is valuable in terms of aphrodisiac properties. The detailed surveys are in progress and I will write more on this aspect in my future articles. As herb expert, I feel that there is a tremendous scope in the field of Lemon grass cultivation and marketing and through scientific approach, this crop can become a boon for the Indian farmers. The rich traditional knowledge about this herb in Chhattisgarh emphasises the need of more detailed studies and scientific confirmation. Thank you very much for reading the article.