Production and Conservation of Medicinal Plants in Understorey of Degraded Chir Pine Forests Using Sustainable Techniques

In general, little emphasis is given on the production of medicinal plant species for sustainable harvest and conservation in the understorey of degraded forests. For instance, forests like chir pine which are not managed to grow any medicinal plants, offer an opportunity to produce and conserve native medicinal plants. This article highlights a study focusing on the production of medicinal plants in association with Chir pine forests, involving sustainable management techniques like minimum tillage and selecting suitable aspects for the sustainable harvest and conservation of plants under the canopy of trees. The medicinal plants were grown on three topographical aspects - Northern, North-Western and Western by adopting three tillage depths, viz. minimum (0 cm), medium (up to 10 cm) and deep tillage (up to 15 cm), in open and below tree canopy conditions. From yield and economic point of view, Andrographis paniculata, Mucuna pruriens, Solanum khasianum and Spilanthes acmella were found to be better yielding and more remunerative in comparison to Withania somnifera, Cymbopogon nardus and Ocimum basilicum, when grown outside the tree canopy adopting deep tillage on the Western aspect in Chir pine forests. The study can also be applicable to the other parts of the country to produce and conserve native medicinal plant species using sustainable management techniques like minimum tillage in blank patches or understorey of the degraded forests.