Botanical Name

Madhuca longifolia var. latifolia (Roxb.) A.Chev.

Name in English

Mahua

Name in Kannada

Hippe

Family

Sapotaceae

Seeds Collection

Seed collection between June-August. The seeds after maturity

dispersed from the tree and germinate rapidly in wild conditions.

Seeds Processing & Treatment

No pre-treatment required

Nursery

Ripe fruits are collected by shaking the branches. Fruits are rubbed and washed to obtain clean seeds. About

450  seeds  weigh  one  kg.  Fresh  seeds  have  sigh germination capacity, which however is soon lost on storage. Fungi and insects readily attach the seeds. Fresh seeds are sown at a depth of about 1.5 to 2.5 cm. One-month-old seedlings are transplanted in nursery beds. Late transplanting gives poor results. Spacing in transplant beds is 30 x 15 cm; shading the seedling is necessary, One-year-old seedlings are used for planting in main field. Seedlings can also be containerized. In that case, one-month-old seedlings are pricked into containers. Shading is necessary

Plantation Management

The tree grows on a wide variety of soils, but prefers sandy soils. It grows well in alluvial soils of the Indo- Gangetic plains. In Sal forests, it is found growing on high clay and even calcareous soils.

Planting is one in 30 cm3 pits at a spacing of 4x 4 m. Planting of stumps is done in crow bar holes or 30 cm3 pits

Model/Spacing

Ideal spacing 4 x 4 m.

Pests, diseases and Management

Bark eating caterpillar. Pest is active from February to March. Can be controlled by maintaining sanitary situation. Dichlorovos (0.1%) should be injected the holes and plugged. Foliar spray with Dimethoate (0.05%) at tri weekly interval.

Plant Rotation

35 – 40 years

Yield

30 – 40 kg seeds per tree

Uses

Leaves are used as fodder. Flowers and fruits can also be fed to cattle. Leaves contain crude protein 9.8%, crude fibre 20.3%; N free extract 60.7%; ether extract 4.1%; total ash 7.8%, calcium 1.6%, phosphorus 0.2%. Seeds contain 39% oil which is used for cooking and soap making. Seed cake is also fed to cattle. It also makes a good manure. It contains (on dry matter basis), the flowing : crude protein 19.4%, ether extract 12.0%; crude fibre 62.2%, total ash 6.4%; calcium 0.2%, phosphorus 0.8%; digestible crude protein-8.0% total digestible nutrients 60%. Flower can also be fed to livestock to replace cereal concentrates. A fully developed tree can produce upto 90 kg of flowers in a year. The chemical composition (in per cent) of the flowers is crude protein 8.0; ether extract 1.4;crude fibre 30.4; N free extract 52.4; total carbohydrate 83.8;

total ash 7.8; calcium 0.22; phosphorus 0.16. The protein content is comparable to that of rice and the total carbohydrate to that of maize and oats as also the availability of total digestible nutrients. Flowers are used by the tribal as a source of alcohol.

The oils have also been tested as potential cocoa butter extenders.

Buyers /Industries

Food and Pharmacy industry

Harvesting

Starts yield from 4 – 5 years.

Economic Returns

A well-maintained block plantation of Mahua will yield Rs. 2,94,000 per ha annually

Current Market Rate

Rs. 20 per kg of seeds.