Weed management in commercial cultivation of wonder crop Safed Musli (Chlorophytum borivilianum) : My experiences

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

It is common observation in majority of Safed Musli farms that most of time during cropping season, manual weeding operations are in progress. As this crop takes three to four months to complete its life cycle. The farmers start the manual weeding from the sowing and when they complete the weeding at last end, new flushes of weed species occupies the starting point again. Although in commercial cultivation of Safed Musli, the high cost of planting material is a major economical input but this is a bare fact that the farmers waste much money in weeding operations. Through proper planning and precautions this can be checked. This is good sign that most of the Safed Musli growers are not using the chemical weedicides to manage the weeds. I have not used the term all because I am aware that many multinational companies are engaged in field trials based of chemical weed control in Safed Musli crop. They are getting good results in terms of weed management but no one is aware that what damage the weedicides are causing to the medicinal properties of Safed Musli herb. Manual weeding is promising substitute to chemicals for Safed Musli cultivation. As the cost of labour is increasing and also the availability of young workers is decreasing the Manual weeding is becoming problematic in many areas particularly the areas near to urban establishments where better job opportunity are available. I am not in favour of regular manual weeding during entire cropping season. Through long experiences with this wonder crop, I have observed and noted many valuable information that can be of great use to the Musli growers. I am giving the details in this research article.

Technically, any herb present in crop field other than Safed Musli can be considered as weed or unwanted plants that can damage the desired herb through competition for light, moisture and nutrients. But I have experienced that all weeds are not harmful to Safed Musli and can not attack on this herb with same potential, as said by the experts. Like competition between Musli and weed species, there is also the competition exist among the weed species. They do not behave as coalition force against Safed Musli herb. Through the extensive visits to Safed Musli fields of Chhattisgarh, I have prepared a list of about 105 weed species that infest the crop fields in growing season. Personally I do not consider these species as unwanted species because all 105 species possess valuable medicinal properties and uses and for the traditional healers of Chhattisgarh, these are valuable herbs that can save the life of hundreds of their patients. I simply explain the situation when we plant Safed Musli, the nature gives us 105 more medicinal herbs as gift. For time being, let us consider these species as problematic species that can cause damage to main crop. In Chhattisgarh, we are fortunate that most of these 105 weed species belong to Gramineae family having shallow root system. As its roots donot go in depth, it damage the Musli herb very little. Hence, we can ignore these grassy weeds while manual weeding. In many parts of Chhattisgarh, I have seen the heavy infestation of sedges. Although the farmers try to manage these sedges through manual weeding but it is nearly impossible to uproot these hydra-headed deep rooted herbs. While its removal, it breaks from main plant and underground parts give the birth of new plant within no time. For these fields, I recommend the farmers to adopt the soil solarization method of weed management in which the solar radiations are used to destroy the dormant seeds and underground plant parts of weed species, in hot summer days. Many farmers have tried this cheap but effective method successfully to get rid from these problematic weed species. Many dicot weeds also infest Safed Musli field but I have observed much competition among the dicot species within them than the grassy weed species. If dicot species are more in number, it must be removed from field. These species can cause great harm to Musli tubers its roots penetrate into the tuber (I am not aware whether intentionally or incidentally) and the holes created by roots, in Musli tubers act as entry point to pathogens and insects. In my previous article, I have mentioned the intensity of this problem, I have observed while purchasing the planting material for one of my farmers in Maharashtra region. So, we can categorized the weed species that commonly occur in Safed Musli fields in three groups

i. e. Grasses, Sedges and dicot species. Our emphasis should be on Sedges and dicot species. (and if solarization method is adopted, the emphasis should be only on dicot species). The field workers engaged can be instructed to identify the harmful species and remove only these specific species. There is no need to invest time as well as energy on less harmful or harmless species. For the Chhattisgarh farmers I am planning to prepare a field guide to differentiate between the friend and enemy species. If the farmers of other parts of India, wish I can prepare the guide for them also but many species common in Chhattisgarh are also common in other parts of the country, hence the guide is having broader scope. I have collected the local names of weeds. For better utilization, I am trying to add the names of weeds in other languages also. I have found the Farm yard Manure (FYM) as a potential source of weed species in crop fields. As Safed Musli is grown through organic inputs, the farmers use this manure in bulk. There is no harm with this manure but it should be well rotten during the time of application. Its role as seed bank of weed species can not be avoided totally. But by this little precaution one can stop the entry of unwanted species to great extent. I am aware that due to increasing use of FYM in Chhattisgarh, it is very difficult to get well rotten FYM but I suggest the farmers to try their best to apply the FYM in correct form. The research on weed management through the weeds, with the help of Allelopathic studies is in progress at farmer's fields in Chhattisgarh. After getting the promising results, I will write in detail on this aspect.

Thank you very much for reading the article.