Indian Journal of Natural Products and Resources
Vol. 1(2), June 2010, pp. 258-260
Short Communication
Elaeagnus kologa Schlecht. – An under
utilized edible and endemic fruit plant in
Nilgiris, the western ghats
S Paulsamy*, P Senthil Kumar, AM Ananda Kumar and
P Sathish Kumar
Department of Botany, Kongunadu Arts and Science College,
Coimbatore -641 029, Tamil Nadu, India
Received 21 April 2009; Accepted 21 October 2009
The wild plant species, Elaeagnus kologa Schlecht. belonging
to the family Elaeagnaceae, is endemic and generally distributed
in the high altitudes of Nilgiris in the margins of moist deciduous
forests with sizable populations. The fruits (drupe) of this species
are edible and reported to have high content of proteins, minerals
and vitamins comparable to common fruits like oranges, grapes,
guava and others. Its fruits are available in the month of March
and April and sold in the markets of Nilgiri district. For the past
few decades due to the nutritional significance, the fruits are
exploited severely by the local public, tribals and other herb
gatherers due to which the population of the species is getting
decreased. In addition, the lower germination percentage
determined is also a factor for the less population of the species in
Nilgiris. Hence, to conserve this species appropriate cultivation
technology must be developed and can be practiced in degraded
forests.
Keywords: Elaeagnus kologa, Thavittu palam, Kolungai fruits,
Under utilized species, Edible fruit, Nilgiris,
Nutritional contents.
IPC code; Int. cl.8—A61K 36/00, A01G 17/00
Introduction
Many under explored wild plants with edible fruits are available in natural vegetations all over the world. However, people are mainly utilizing the fruits of most popular horticultural crops like orange, banana, apple, grapes, etc. as supplementary food. Further, cultivation practices and post harvest technologies have adequately been formulated only for these commonly utilized species in order to meet the demand all over the year. In this context popularization of under utilized plants of edible fruits is most essential in the modern world of ever increasing population.
Elaeaganus kologa Schlecht. (Family-Elaeagnaceae) is unpopular and under utilized plant with edible fruits commonly distributed in the
margins of shola forests of Nilgiris at high altitudes. Locally it is known as ‘Thavittu palam’ or ‘Kolungai’ fruits. The rural people and tribal communities of Nilgiris generally use the fruits during season. This paper deals with the availability, chemical composition and importance of the fruits of E. kologa.
Materials and Methods Plant description and habitat
It is a shrub or straggler, grows up to 3-4 m height.
Fruits are drupe, elliptic-oblong, 10-20 X 5-10 mm
size and reddish in colour (Plate 1). This species is
generally distributed in the shola and other forest
margins at high altitudes between 1800 and 2300 m
above msl in Nilgiris, the western Ghats1. The
propagation of species is mainly by seeds. However,
early study shows that the seed germination
percentage of this species is low (<30%)2.
Field survey was conducted at monthly intervals
from June 2007 to May 2008 in 11 shola forests
of Nilgiris, such as Ebbenadu, Governor shola,
Honnathalai, Kammand, Kodappamand, Kolacombai,
Korakundah, Kothagiri terrace, Longwood, Thiashola
and Wenlockdown by observing 100 individuals in all
the 11 sholas to know the time of important
phenophases such as flowering and fruit formation in
this species. The fruits were collected in the month of
April 2008 and the moisture content was determined.
Then the shade dried fruits were subjected to
chemical analysis to determine the content of total
soluble solids, fatty acids, total sugars, reducing
sugars, non-reducing sugars, vitamin C, ash, protein
and the minerals, viz. phosphorus, potassium,
calcium, magnesium and iron3-11
.
——————
*Correspondent author
E-mail: [email protected]
Plate 1: Cluster of ripend fruits of the wild Kolungai plant
SHORT COMMUNICATION
259
Results and Discussion The observation on various phenophases of the
species in Nilgiri shola forests revealed that the peak
flowering period occurs during the months of
January-February followed by the fruiting during
March-April. A huge amount of fruits of this species
under the local name, ‘Thavittu palam’ are sold in the
vegetable markets of Ooty, Coonoor and Kothagiri,
the Nilgiris during the summer month, April. As per
the census taken from these markets, approximately
1.0-1.5 tons of fruits are harvested and sold in the
local markets every year. Further, the herb gatherers
informed that every well developed tree of this
species can yield 0.5-0.75 kg of fruits per year.
However, the fruit of this species is not popular in the
adjoining districts like Coimbatore and Erode located
in the plains. Moisture, certain reserves, vitamin C, ash and min-
eral contents of the fruits were estimated by standard methods. Except for moisture, other estimations were made by using shade dried fruits. The nutrient contents of the fruits of this species were compared with that of the other commonly used fruits as supplementary food in southern India. The moisture content of the fruits is determined to be 69% which is comparable to other fruits (78% in orange-Citrus aurantium Linn., 61% in banana-Musa paradisiaca Linn., 78% in apple-Pyrus malus Linn., 62% in guava–Psidium guajava Linn. and 90% in grape-Vitis vinifera Linn.). The percentage of reserves, viz. total soluble solids, total sugars, reducing sugars, non-reducing sugars and protein were estimated to be 14.3, 8.51, 8.02, 0.27 and 4.8 respectively in this fruit. Of these reserves, the total soluble solids and protein contents were higher than that of the other fruits (total soluble solids and protein percentages of orange, banana, apple, guava and grape were 7.56, 12.04, 1.00, 10.00 and 9.5 and 1.23, 1.70, 0.76, 2.67 and 0.63, respectively. The percentages of other reserves, viz., total sugars (8.51), reducing sugars (8.02) and non-reducing sugars (8.27) in the fruits are noteworthy in comparison to other fruits (total sugars, reducing sugars and non-reducing sugars in orange, banana, apple, guava and grape are: 10.20, 3.55 and 0.01; 23.00, 24.60 and 14.6; 70.00, 56.00 and 0.45; 8.00, 4.20 and 7.36, and 14.87, 32.35 and 0.68%, respectively).
The acids available in Kolungai fruits (1.28%) are
considerably higher than that present in banana, 1.07,
apple, 0.19 and guava 0.75%. However, they are
determined to be lower than that available in orange,
2.14 and grape, 1.50%. The vitamin C present in
kolungai fruits (13.50%) is significantly higher than
that of the fruits of banana, 5.12 and grape, 3.44%. On
the other hand, it was lower than orange, 8.72, apple,
24 and guava, 34%. The ash content of kolungai fruits
(1.02%) is higher than that in orange, 0.4, banana, 0.8,
apple, 0.57, guava, 0.67 and grape, 0.31%.
The per cent minerals, viz., calcium, phosphorus,
potassium and magnesium are generally poor in
kolungai fruits (0.052, 0.057, 0.416 and 0.04%,
respectively) when compared to other fruits, viz.
orange, banana, apple, guava and grape. However, the
iron content of kolungai fruits (0.008%) is higher than
that available in the fruits of orange, 0.002, banana,
0.004 and apple 0.001%. Presence of high content of
nutrients and other reserves in the fruits of various
Elaeagnaceae members and others has already been
documented12-17
by other authors, hence supporting
present study.
Conclusion
Owing to rich amounts of total soluble solids,
acids, ash, protein and iron and availability of
considerable amount of vitamin C, sugars and
minerals like calcium, phosphorus, potassium and
magnesium, the fruits of kolungai can be used as a
supplementary food for better health care. However,
the availability of fruits of this species for a short
period in the year and less availability of plants are
the barriers met in this fact. To overcome these
problems development of post harvest technology for
the long-term storage and ever availability of the
fruits of E. kologa, development of appropriate
cultivation practices in degraded shola forests and
other forest habitats both by seeds and in vitro
regeneration, procurement of its seeds from the
consumers after the consumption of mesocarp for
propagation and conservation of wild genetic stock
are recommended.
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