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Cultivation of bhunimba - Andrographis paniculata Nees

bhunimba :

Flowering plant, growing amongst weeds in Thailand Photograph by: Tony Rodd

Cultivation:

A plant of the tropics, where it is found at elevations up to 1,600 metres. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 20 - 30°c, but can tolerate 14 - 38°c. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 2,000 - 3,000mm, but tolerates 1,500 - 4,000mm
Prefers a position in light shade, but can tolerate deeper shade and sunnier positions
The plant has escaped from cultivation and become naturalized in many areas of the tropics
In shading experiments, the optimal proved to be 20% shade with average dry-matter production of 13.2 g per 5-month-old plant



Propogation:

Seed - should be soaked for 24 hours and then dried before being sown. Germination starts after 1 week and the mean germination rate is about 80%.
Cuttings consisting of 3 nodes taken from the upper third of 1-year-old plants have given the best results in vegetative propagation, with 80-90% rooting


Harvesting:

The leaves should be harvested when the inflorescence axis starts to grow, because the maximum accumulation of andrographolide is at that stage
The roots are harvested when leaves start discolouring or wilting
Yields of 1 - 1.5 kg fresh weight/plant are obtained from 7-month-old plants
In general, the herb is used fresh and consumed within a few days after collection]. However, leaves and roots should be washed and dried in the sun or artificially before storage




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