ORCHIDS ASIA- ORCHIDS COLLECTIBLES,PLANTS,VANILLA,SPICES RESOURCE

CINNAMON PLANTATIONS

Cinnamomum-Cultivation

Cinnamomum Zeylanicum-Verum

Indian Name: Dalchini. Cinnamon is an evergreen tree which is small and bushy. Dried leaves of cinnamon, alongwith its dried inner bark are used all over the world as a spice or condiment. It has a pleasing fragrance and a warm, swet and aromatic taste.
The bark of the tree is thick, smooth and light or dark brownish in colour. The innerbark is obtained from carefully selected shoots. It is then cured and dried. While drying, the bark shrinks and curls into a cylinder or a quill.

BUSINESS OF CINNAMON QUILLS AND OIL

Cinnamon tree was known to ancient physicians even before 2700 BC.The Chinese used the bark of this tree as a medicine. The romans also knew about the medicinal value of this bark. Eminent physicians like Galen, Diocoredes and sasaferes described various uses of cinnamon. Indians knew about the therapeutic uses of this herb before the 8th century.The oldest record available about the description of cinnamon is in the Torah, the Jewish religious text. it was however ,Khizvenee who was the first person to give details about the medical virtues of this herb in the 13th century.

Cinnamomum verum is mostly cultivated in Sri Lanka, Malagasy Republic and Seychelles. It has originated in the central hills of Sri Lanka. In India, it is grown in one or two locations in Kerala. Cinnamon is a hardy plant and is cultivated in Sri Lanka under varying conditions ranging from semi dried to wet zone conditions. The ideal temperature for growing cinnamon is between 20-30 degree C and rainfall between 1250 to 2500 mm. It thrives well as a forest tree at 300-350 meter above MsL.

Uses: Bark and leaves

The commercial products of cinnamon are quills, quillings, featherings, chips, cinnamon bark oil and cinnamon leaf oil. ‘Quills’ are scraped peel of the inner bark of the mature cinnamon shoots, joined together with overlapping tubes, the hollow of which has been filled with smaller pieces of cinnamon peels which is dried first in the sun and thereafter in the shade. ‘Quillings’ are broken pieces and splits of all grades of cinnamon quills. ‘Featherings’ are feather like pieces of inner bark consisting of shavings and small pieces of bark left over. Cinnamon ‘chips’ are rough unpeelable barks scraped off from the thicker stems. Cinnamon leaf and bark oil are obtained by distilling the leaf and bark separately. Cinnamon bark is a popular spice with a delicate fragrance and a warm agreeable taste. It is used in the form of small pieces or powder. It is widely used in flavouring confectionary, liquors, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. It is found to help diabetics in digestion of sugar. It has astringent; stimulant and carminative properties and can check nausea and vomiting. The cinnamon bark oil has anti-fungal properties and cinnamon leaf oil is widely used in perfumery and cosmetics

Varieties

YCD 1, PPI – 1, Nithyasree, Navasree, Konkan Tej, Sugandhini

Propagation: Seeds / Semi hardwood cuttings

Nursery:

Seeds collected from selected mother trees are sown immediately in nursery beds in rows of 12 cm apart. July – August is the best season for sowing. From beds, seedlings are transplanted to polythene bags when they attain a height of 15 cm.

Planting

Take pits of 60 cm3- at 2 m x 2 m spacing. Fill the pits with top soil and FYM 10 kg. One year old seedlings or rooted cuttings are transplanted under partial shade.

Irrigation

Protective watering during summer is beneficial.

After cultivation

Immediately after transplanting, the plants are provided with temporary shade by erecting a small pandal. Weeds are removed as and when necessary. Young trees are cut close to the ground to produce side shoots. This process is called "Coppicing". By stooling around the stumps, more side shoots are encouraged from the base of the trees.

Harvesting and curing

The plants will be ready for harvest in about 3 years after planting. Harvesting is done during two seasons, the first in May and second in November. The correct time for cutting the shoots for peeling is determined by noting the sap circulation between the wood and corky layer. Peelers can judge this by making a test cut on the stem with a sharp knife. If the bark separates readily, the cutting is taken immediately. Stems measuring 2.0 to 2.5 cm in diameter and 1.5 to 2.0 m length are cut early in the morning and twigs and leaves are detached.

PROCESSING:

The outer brown skin is first scrapped off and the stem is rubbed briskly to loosen the bark. Two cuts are made round the stem about 30 cm apart and two longitudinal slits are made on opposite sides of the stem. The bark is separated from the wood with curved knife. The detached pieces of bark are made into compound quills. The best and longest quills are used on the outside while inside is filled with smaller pieces. The compound quills are rolled by hand to press the outside edges together and are neatly trimmed. They are dried in shade as direct exposure to sun can result in warping. The dried quills consist of mixture of coarse and fine types and are yellowish brown in colour.
The quills are graded as Fine or Continental, Mexican and Hamburg or Ordinary. The Fine consists of quills of uniform thickness, colour and quality and the joints of the quills are neat. Mexican grades are intermediate in quality. The Hamburg grade consists of thicker and darker quills.
The lower grades are exported as:

(a)Quillings:

The broken lengths and fragments of quills of all grades are bulked and sold as quillings;

(b) Featherings:

This grade consists of the inner bark of twigs and twisted shoots that do not give straight quills of normal length.

Chips:

This includes the trimmings of the cut shoots, shavings of outer and inner bark, which cannot be separated, or which are obtained from small twigs and odd pieces of thick outer bark.

Oleoresin

Cinnamon oleoresin is prepared by extracting cinnamon bark with organic solvent. Oleoresin yield varies form 10 to 12 per cent. The oleoresin is dispersed on sugar, salt and used for flavouring processed foods.

CULTIVAR-HYBRIDS-VARIETIES

Cinnamon is a bushy evergreen tree (6-8 m tall), cultivated as low bushes to ease the harvesting process. The leaves are long (10-18 cm), leathery and shining green on upper surface when mature. The flowers have a fetid, disagreeable smell. The fruit is a dark purple, one-seeded berry. It prefers shelter and moderate rainfall without extremes in temperature. Eight to ten lateral branches grow on each bush and after three years they are harvested.
The Sri Lankan farmer harvests his main crop in the wet season, cutting the shoots close to the ground. In processing, the shoots are first scraped with a semicircular blade, then rubbed with a brass rid to loosen the bark, which is split with a knife and peeled. The peels are telescoped one into another forming a quill about 107 cm (42 inches) long and filled with trimming of the same quality bark to maintain the cylindrical shape. After four or five days of drying, the quills are rolled on a board to tighten the filling and then placed in subdued sunlight for further drying. Finally, they are bleached with sulphur dioxide and sorted into grades.

Cinnamon contains from 0.5 to 1 present essential oil, the principal component of which is cinnamic aldehyde (about 60%). Other components are eugenol, eugenol acetate, and small amounts of aldehydes, ketones, alcohols, esters and terpenes. The oil is distilled from fragments for use in food, liqueur, perfume and drugs. The aldehyde can also be synthesized. Cinnamon leaf oil is unique in that it contains eugenol as its major constituent (70-90%).
Botanical species include:Cinnamomum multiforum (Wight), Cinnamomum ovalifolium (Wight), Cinnamom litseifolium Thw. , Cinnamom citriodorum other than the cinnamomum Verum.

Soil:

1. The quality of the bark is greatly influenced by soil and ecological factors.
2. Well-drained soil rich in humus content is most suitable.
3. Sandy loam soils liberally incorporated with organic manures are best.
4. Red dark brown soils free from rockj gravel or quartz are also good, for cinnamon cultivation.

Climate:

1. Cinnamon requires hot and humid climate.
2. Annual precipitation of 150 to 250 cm and average temperature of 27°C are ideal.
3. It can be cultivated upto an elevation of 200 m from the sea level.
4. Prolonged spells of dry' weather are not conductive for successful growth.

Propagation:

Cinnamon is commonly propagated through seed, though it can be propagated by cuttings and air layers. Under the. West Coast conditions, cinnamon flowers in January and fruits ripen during June-August. The fully ripe fruits are either pieked up from the tree or fallen ones are collected from the ground.
Seeds are. removed from fruits, washed free of pulp and sown without much delay, as the seeds have a low viability. The seeds are sown in sand beds or polythene bags containing a mixture of sand, soil and well - powdered cow-dung in a 3:3:1 ratio. The seeds germinate within 10-20 days. Frequent irrigations are required for maintaining adequate moisture level. The seedlings require artificial shading till they become 6 months old.

Planting:

Pits of 50 cm are dug at a spacing of 3 x 3 m. They are filled with compost and-topsoil before planting. Cinnamon is planted during June-July to take advantage of monsoon for the establishment of seedlings. One-year-seedlings are planted. In each pit, 5 seedlings can be planted. In some cases, the seeds are directly dibbled in pits that are filled with compost and soil. Partial shade in the initial years is advantageous for healthy and rapid growth of plants.

Manuring and Fertilization:

1 st year: 20 g N, 18 g P205, and 25 g K20/seedling. Three years after planting: 29 kg F.Y.M., 4 kg neem cake, 150 g.N, 75 g P2O5 and 150 g K2O per plant. The fertilizers are applied in two doses during first week of September and in March.

Training and Pruning:

When the seedlings become 2-3 years old, the shoot is cut back to a height of 30 cm from ground level to produce side shoots. This is called 'coppicing'. This is done till the whole tree assumes shape of a low bush with side shoots springing forth profusely. Sometimes, stooling is done by slight mounding of soil to encourage shoots.

Aftercare:

Watering of newly planted seedling: is done profusely and periodically. In the first 3-4 years, weeding is done 3-4 times in a year. Subsequently one or two weedings are required. Seedlings grow to a height of 2 m in 7 years.

Yield:

It varies with type of variety and age. a. 3-4 year and onwards' - 62 to 125 kg quills/ha.
b. 10-11 year and onwards - 225 to 300 kg quills/ha.
In addition, about 75 kg of quillings and featherings are obtained.
Further, one ton of leaves which yield 1 to 1.25 kg of oil are obtained per year.
100 g of dried bark/bush
35 kg of leaf oil/ha/year

Cinnamon bark oil

A pale yellow liquid possessing the delicate aroma of the spice is obtained by steam distillation of quills (0.2 to 0.5%). Its major component is cinnamaldehyde (55%) but other components like eugenol, eugenyl acetate, ketones, esters and terpenes also impart the characteristic odour and flavour to this oil. Cinnamon bark oil is used in flavouring bakery foods, sauces, pickles, confectionery, soft drinks, dental and pharmaceutical preparations and also in perfumery.
Cinnamon bark contains commercially important volatile oils. These oils can me separated by steam or hydro distillation. The yield of oil could be 0.7% to 1.5%. The chemical composition of volatile oil is analyzed by Gas Liquid Chromatographic method. Cinnamic aldehyde is the most important chemical and oil is graded according to its percentage. Overall organo-leptic properties of oil depend on the large number of chemicals present at correct proportions.

Cinnamon leaf oil

Cinnamon leaf oil is produced by steam distillation of leaves yielding 0.5 to 0.7% oil. It is yellow to brownish yellow in colour and possesses a warm, spicy but rather harsh odour. The major constituent is eugenol (70 to 90 %) while the cinnamaldehyde content is less than five per cent. The oil is used in perfumery and flavouring, and also as a source of eugenol.

Cinnamon root bark oil

The root bark contains 1.0 to 2.8% oil containing camphor as the main constituent. Cinnamaldehyde as well as traces of eugenol are found in the oil, having less commercial relevance.