Are two crops of Safed Musli (Chlorophytum borivilianum) possible in a year?

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

This is a million dollar question. The Indian farmers and researchers are in search of methods through which the dormancy of Safed Musli can be broken. At present, a single crop of Safed Musli is possible in one year. The planting of Safed Musli starts in June (in many places from May) and within four months it completes its life cycle. After completion of life cycle, the tubers of Safed Musli remains inside the soil in dormant condition and next year when favourable conditions occur in May-June, it sprouts again.

As its duration is only four months, three crops of Safed Musli are possible, if we ignore the problem of dormancy for sometimes. Two crops in a year can be taken easily in this case. I am not aware about any research organization of India engaged in research on this important aspect. When I visit to Safed Musli farms, the innovative growers always suggest me to search some Jadui formulations to break the dormancy of Safed Musli. I asked this question to the senior traditional healers. They replied what is the necessity of more than one crop in a year? If nature has fixed it, try to maintain it in natural way. Who knows that the off-season cultivation of Safed Musli can give birth to lethal properties in it ? The Traditional healers are very true. As I always write the commercial cultivation of herbs is not recommended in ancient Indian literatures. The traditional healers of Chhattisgarh are also not in favour of cultivation. They say if cultivation is very necessary, try to cultivate the herbs in natural ways ? Donot grow the herbs like commercial cash crops ? As herb researchers, I am trying hard to develop the promising solutions that can break the dormancy of Safed Musli tubers.

As I have mentioned in previous articles, that many species of Safed Musli (Chlorophytum) occur naturally in dense forests of Chhattisgarh and with the help of innovative Musli growers, we are maintaining the germplasm of this wonder herb in field gene banks. When I studied the behaviour and growth habit of these wild species, I observed many interesting things. You will be surprised to know that the problem of dormancy is not a big problem . Many wild species of Chlorophytum can be germinated in so called off-season by giving favourable conditions. Unfortunately, the species of commercial importance i.e. Chlorophytum borivilianum is not among these unique species. Most of these species is still not identified. Over 200 species of Chlorophytum have been reported world wide. The species, we have collected from forests are not similar to these described species. I personally feel that these unique species can be used through improved breeding programme in development of dormancy free Safed Musli varieties. The unique species possess medicinal properties.

The tribal use the leaves as pot herb whereas the traditional healers use its tubers as other species. The traditional healers of Chhattisgarh always say that besides atmospheric conditions, the herbs and big trees present in surroundings play vital role in breaking the dormancy of any specific herb. When season passess, along with specific herb, the herbs present in surroundings, particularly the ground flora also changes, and the new herbs have no capacity to break the dormancy again. I am thankful to the mother nature and the God for providing me opportunity to conduct detailed research on Allelopathy. The quotes of the traditional healers motivated me to study the alleopathic effects of common herbs present in surroundings of Safed Musli herb in natural habitat on Safed Musli herb.

At first, I prepared the list of herbs present in surroundings by frequent visits to dense forests. After listing, the detailed studies were started both in laboratory and field conditions. The studies are still in progress. The results of initial studies were eye opening. The traditional healers were true. The initial studies revealed that the extracts and leachate of herbs present in surroundings possess unknown chemicals that can stimulate the germination or sprouting of tubers. When I provided both favourable atmospheric conditions and mixture of natural chemicals to above mentioned unique wild species, the dormancy broke within no time. The species of Safed Musli having commercial importance i.e. Chlorophytum borivilianum is not native to Chhattisgarh. This is bad luck for me that I can not study this species in its natural habitat. Through this article I would like to request the researchers and scientists of areas where C. borivilianum occurs naturally, to list out the natural herbs present in surroundings and conduct similar experiments. I am confident that they will discover the promising combination of natural chemical within short time. With the help of natives living in such areas, I have tried to list out some common herbs. Many of these herbs are common in natural forests of Chhattisgarh also. I have tried many new herbs in on going experiments and got very little success in breaking the dormancy of Chlorophytum borivilianum species. I am expecting some promising results in next 6-8 months. This is really challenging research. I would like to request the young researchers to focus their studies on this aspect. The discovery of the promising combination of natural chemicals can help the Musli growers to the great extent in order to fulfill the world demand of Safed Musli.

Thank you very much for reading the article.