Rauvolfia serpentina or 'snakeroot' or 'sarpagandha'

Sarpgandha ( Rauwolfia Serpentina)

Soil

Well drained medium to deep black soil.- In some pockets sandy loam to laterites.

Climate

Humid, warm climate, shade loving. Rainfall: 300-300 mm.

Planting

Crop can be grown either by seed or vegetative propagation.

• root cutting
• Root stumps
• Stem cutting (100 kg cuttings/ha) but indicates that transplanting of seedling gives better yield.

Spacing

45 x 30 cm

Seed Collection

Fruits matured during January -"February are collected and immediately kept for drying in shade. Plumpy matter should be removed by rubbing the seeds.

Manuring

Well rotten FYM @ 25-30 tones/ha during land preparations.

Harvesting

Plants are dugged out after 2-3 years pf plantation. At the time of digging, soil must be moist, weight of harvested material sjjpnlcll be reduced by 40 % by air drying method and stored in store house.

Yield

Yield of the dry roots varies from .1800 to 2000 kg/ha depending upon the crop condition (4 kg root/plant). Keep in air tight container in 7-10 cm pieces of root with 10 - 12 % moisture. It is used as anti-hypertensive and sedative drags. Intestional disorder etc. roots contain important alkaloids viz. Ajmatine, Serpentine, Raulfine (0.13 to 0.31 %).

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Note: Market Price for Herbs and Essential Oils is volatile and the economics may vary.