Studies on agronomic practices for growing Centella asiatica (L.)Urban in high rainfall localities under open and partial shade of mango orchards Krishnamurthy R., Chandorkar M.S., Kalzunkar E.G., Pathak J.M., Gupta Rajendra* Zandu Foundation for Health Care, Ambach Village, Pardi, Valsad, 396 145, Gujarat *Corresponding author
Abstract Centelta asiatica is a medicinally important, creeping, perennial herb. This species is widely distributed throughout temperate regions but is occasionally also found under high rain-fall tracts in subtropical India. In the present study, five genotypes of C. asiatica (named ZFB1, ZFB2, ZFB3, ZFB4 and ZFB5) collected from natural populations were evaluated for growth habit, yield and triterpenoid content. A superior line (ZFB 4) was selected and designated as cv. Zandu Brahmi and used for agronomical field studies. This line showed improved growth and yield with 1.351% total triterpenoid content. Leaves accumulate triterpenoids progressively and reach a maximum in about 90 days and thus facilitating three or more coppicing of leaf crops in a year. Cultivation practices were developed through several years of experimentation as under-crop in mango orchards and was found profitable. The crop grown under shade of mango orchard produced dry yield of 5.52 metric tonnes/ha from 6 coppicings in a 2 years per hectare. Rates of N:P:K fertilization on yield were studied under artificial shade net condition and found optimum at 100:50:0 kg/ha N:P:K for a maximum dry weight yield of 2.16 metric tonnes/ha/year. Top Key words Centella asiatica, cultivation practices, triterpenoids content. Top |