Production of gum-arabic from Acacia senegal in Thar desert -- a success story

摘要

Acacia senegal is a well-known source of gum-arabic. In India, however, production of gum from A. senegal as such is very meagre despite occurrence of extensive natural stands of the tree in the dry parts of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana. In Sudan, however, A. senegal is the main source of gum-arabic which is an important export item of that country. Our efforts at CAZRI, Jodhpur, have resulted in the development of a technology which involves simple process of administering the gum inducing (ethephon) solution into the tree (main stem) through a small size hole, then plugging the hole with cleaned clay paste and without requiring any further injury or cuts to the plants. The gum exudation from different points in the plant startswithin 5-10 days and may continue for one or two months without any external cut or injury. The physico-chemical characteristics of the gum, so obtained have been found to conform to Pharmacopoeia of Indian specifications. Though on an average, the yield of gum per tree is about 0.5 kg from the existing stands, the maximum gum so produced is up to 5 kg/tree. The cost of treatment is about Rs 10-tree only. Besides, trees which have been consequently treated for the last 4 years have not shown any adverse effect on their performance. As a result, the technology is receiving tremendous response from farmers of western Rajasthan who are very happy to adopt it.