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Article ID: AEN-2020-01-03-007

Lemon grass: A Lucrative Crop for Degraded Lands of Central Gujarat

Dinesh Jinger1*, Vijaysinha Kakade2, Vibha Singhal3 and D. Dinesh1

1ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, RC -Vasad, Anand, Gujarat 2ICAR-National Institute of Abiotic Stress Management, Baramati, Maharashtra 3ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Dehradun, Uttarakhand

*Corresponding author. E-mail: dineshjinger28@gmail.com

Lemon grass (Cymbopogon flexuosus) is a perennial grass cultivated for its essential oil. It is

cultivated in India, China, Myanmar, Africa, Guatemala, South America, Java, Madagascar, and

many other countries. The name lemon grass is derived from the typical lemony odour of the

essential oil present in the leaves. Lemon grass oil is used in culinary flavouring. It is used in

beverages, frozen dairy desserts, candy baked foods, puddings, meat, fat and oils. It is used to

improve the flavour of some fish and can be used to flavour wines, sauces etc. It is used extensively

in soaps, detergents, house-hold cleaner, mosquito cream, Agarbatti etc. Dried lemon grass leaves are

widely used as a lemon flavour ingredient in herbal teas. The well ramified root system of this grass

helps in soil and water conservation. Lemon grass is extensively grown in degraded, marginal and

waste lands.

Lemon grass cultivation at ICAR-IISWC, Research Centre-Vasad, Anand, Gujarat

Climate and Soil

Lemon grass is a tropical plant grows well in hot and humid climate. It needs at least 1500–

3000 mm annual rainfall. A daytime temperature of 25–30° C is considered optimum for maximum

oil production with no extremely low night temperatures. It is drought tolerant in nature, mainly

grown as a rainfed crop and grows up to a height of 1.2–3.0 meters. It can be grown in all kinds of

soils. It can grow from poor laterites soil (pH 4.5) to alkali soil (pH 8.5) and even up to soil pH of

9.6. It is having soil binding nature, hence useful as vegetative cover for conserving soil and water.

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Varieties:

Varieties Developed from

OD-19 (Sugandhi), OD-410,

OD-408

Aromatic and Medicinal Plants Research Station ,

Odakkali, KAU, Kerala

Krishna, Pragati, Cauvery,

Nima, SD-68 CIMAP, Lucknow, U.P.

NLG-84 NDUAT, Faizabad, UP.

RRL-16, CKP-25 Regional research laboratory, Jammu

Propagation through seeds

Lemon grass is generally propagated through seeds. The seeds collected during the months of

January-February are usually sown in the nursery during April-May. Seedlings can be raised in a

nursery in one-tenth of the area of the main field. The optimum seed rate of 2.5–3 kg/ha is optimum

for uniform stand and better growth of plants. Seeds should be mixed with dry river sand (1:3),

uniformly broadcasted on the beds and covered with a thin layer of soil. The seed bed should be

irrigated every day. Seeds germinate in one week and about 45–50 days old seedlings are planted in

main field during the monsoon season.

Propagation through slips

Lemon grass can be propagated by planting of slips from existing healthy clumps. Planting

material is obtained by dividing the mature clumps from the old plantation; the divided units are

called ‘Slips’. After digging out the clumps lengthy roots are trimmed, dead leaves are removed and

top portion is cut at a height of 20–25 cm before separation of slips to allow quick establishment of

the slips in soil and to protect it from soil born insect and pests. Total 37,000 slips are required for

one hectare area.

Planting

Land is prepared by 2–3 ploughing, harrowing and followed by levelling. Planting is done on

flat beds or ridges depending upon the texture of the soil. Slips are placed in holes of about 5–8 cm

deep and the soil surrounding the slips is properly pressed and watering must be done. Planting

should be done with the onset of monsoon at spacing of 60 x 45 cm (R x P) and 2-3 seedlings or slips

are planted per hill.

Manure and fertilizers

Lemon grass being a leafy crop removes large amount of nutrients from the soil, therefore, it

is necessary to supply sufficient amount of organic manures and fertilizers. The well decomposed

FYM (10–15 ton/ha) should be applied in the field before planting. The 100 kg nitrogen, 50 kg P2O5

and 50 kg K2O/ha/year is recommended. The half dose of nitrogen and full dose of P2O5 and K2O

should be applied at the time of planting. The remaining nitrogen is applied in 2–3 splits after each

harvest.

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Irrigation

In areas of prolonged rainy season, the crop is cultivated as rainfed crop. The area where

rainfall is good and well distributed, there is no need of irrigation. In dry and low rainfall areas,

irrigation should be done at 10 days interval. In sub-tropical areas where rainy season lasts for 3-4

months, the crop requires regular irrigation during rain free period and 8-10 irrigations are

considered to be sufficient to meet the water requirement.

Harvesting

First harvesting is done after 4–5 months of planting and subsequent harvesting is done at the

interval of 3–4 months. During the first year of planting, 3 cuttings are obtained and subsequently 4–

5 cuttings per year. Harvesting is done with the help of sickles; the plants are cut 10 cm above

ground-level and allowed to wilt in the field, before transporting to the distillation site. Depending

upon soil and climatic conditions, the plantation lasts on an average, for 5 to 6 years.

Yield

On an average, 10 to 15 tonnes of fresh herbage is harvested per hectare per annum from 3-4

cuttings. The yield of oil is less during the first year but it increases in the second year and reaches a

maximum in the third year; after this, the yield declines. The yield in terms of oil varies from 0.5% to

0.8% depending on the variety, month of harvest and age of the crop, with an average oil yield of

0.65%.

Intercropping

Lemon grass can be grown as intercrop even with fast growing tree like Melia dubia. The

wide space available between rows of Melia dubia can be utilised by growing lemon grass as

intercrop. The fresh herbage of lemon grass is being sold at 10 Rs/kg by ICAR-Indian Institute of

Soil and Water Conservation, RC -Vasad, Anand, Gujarat. Farmers can earn 1.5–2 lakh rupees per

hectare as extra money by growing it as intercrop on degraded or waste lands.

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Melia dubia + Lemon grass at ICAR-IISWC, RC-Vasad, Anand, Gujarat

References

Gawali, A.S. and Meshram, N.A. 2019. Scientifically cultivation of lemon grass: a potential aromatic

crop. Plant Archives 19(2): 2860–2864.

Tomar, J.M.S., Kaushal, R., Rathore, A.C., Mandal, D. and Chaturvedi, O.P. 2016. Yield and soil

fertility build up by aromatic grasses on degraded riverbed land of north western Himalayan

foothills. Indian Journal of Agroforestry 18(2): 66–71.