Bitter cola: Medicinal values, Farming, extraction, marketing, and other uses

Bitter cola, often referred to as the African wonder nut, comes from Garcia Kola trees which grow in coastal rain forests in parts of Cameroon, Nigeria, Garbon and other African countries with coastal rain forests

Believed Medical values
Traditionally, these nuts were chewed as a masticatory substance to stimulate the flow of saliva but today they are widely consumed as a snack, food that you eat between meals.

These nuts contain large amounts of caffeine (substance that keeps you awake) and other stimulants like theobromine, kolatin and glucose. Bitter cola is also believed to be an aphrodisiac (makes people want to have sex). Unlike other cola nuts (cola nitida, cola acuminate), bitter cola is thought to clean the digestive system, without side effects such as abdominal problems, even when a lot of nuts are eaten. 

Culturally bitter cola is an important part of life from birth to death in certain West African communities as it is not only used for traditional ceremony, marking special events like births, marriages and the conferring of chieftaincy. In some communities during marriage proposals young men offer cola nuts to the father of the bride and an exchange of cola nuts is essential in many business dealings as well.

Multiple Uses
In herbal medicine which is an integral part of life in this part of Africa, the fruit pulp is used for the treatment of jaundice, or high fever, while the bark of the tree is used in medicinal preparations to help heal various ailments.

The nuts are also dried, ground and mixed with honey to make a traditional cough mixture. In the last three to four years ground nuts has also been used as an industrial bitter agent in some Nigerian breweries. The hard wood of the bitter cola is not often used for timber or firewood, but the stems branches and roots are commonly used in the production of chew sticks.

Cultivation
Garcinia kola trees grow in humid rainforests near the coast as a medium sized tree that can tolerate shade. However deforestation in recent years has drastically reduced the number of these trees growing in the wild. Over the last decade Garcinia kola trees have been increasingly cultivated in secondary forests, as a component tree in plantations, or in agro forestry systems.

The trees are planted from seed and bear fruit after 10 to 12 years. At its peak, a mature tree yields on average, almost 500 fruits and 1700 nuts each year.
For example in Nigeria almost 70% of bitter cola is produced from natural or secondary forests in government reserves, the rest comes from trees growing in cocoa/cola combined plots and from oil palm/cassava farms and home gardens.

Extracting and marketing the nuts
The fruit pulp is collected after falling to the ground and is kept until its orange coloured, velvety skin softens. This may take five to six days. Extracting the nuts is a simple household affair that is not very labour intensive. The harvest is thrashed to release each fruit’s three to four kernels. These are referred to as bitter cola nuts as soon as the fruit pulp is thoroughly washed off. At this point the nuts are ready for eating fresh or can be air dried and stored in a cool, dry place. Both the fresh and dried nuts are appreciated by rural and urban populations.

In most countries where bitter cola is grown, it can be found in both local and nearby city markets, like the case of Nigeria. In Cameroon apart from markets young men knowing how much the population is attached to this cola, hawk their wares around parks, roadsides and other places where people are on transit. You also fine bitter cola in roadside kiosk in major cities and towns in the northern part of the West African region, (Cameroon inclusive). The trade in bitter cola is worth an estimated 50000US dollar a year in Nigeria. 

Processing bitter cola takes time but entails little or no cost to the farmers involved in this activity. The resulting income has helped poor rural farmers pay school fees and materials or household goods.

Bitter cola’s increasing commercial value means it is important for farmers to cultivate rather than rely on the dwindling wild supplies.
For example, the nuts are more profitable than any other forest resource in Nigeria. In one season, a family can collect an average of three baskets of bitter cola weighing 25kg. This generates about 24US dollars in family income. The ability to store the nuts and use them fresh or dried makes this a wonderful versatile and wonderful product. 

MAIZE QUALITY SEED PRODUCTION

Isolation distance 

Since maize is a cross pollinated crop, it is necessary to isolate seed field from maize crops of any other variety. The seed field must be isolated at least by 200 metres for certified class seed from seed of other varieties of maize. 

Attention 

You should not forget that by isolating the seed field from other maize field, the genetic purity is maintained.

How to select the land? 

Well drained sandy red or black cotton soil is suitable. The selected field should be free of volunteer maize plants. Volunteer plants are unwanted plant growing from seeds that have fallen from the plants of previous maize crop. These plants may be of some other maize variety and cause genetic contamination.

Field preparation 

Plough the field five to six times to get fine tilth. Spread 12.5 tons of FYM ha-1 or composted coir pith and apply ten packets of Azospirillum in the field. Prepare ridges and furrows with 45 cm spacing. Formation of ridges and furrows enables saving of irrigation water.
Seed rate and seed treatment 

For sowing one ha of certified seed field, 10 kg of foundations seed is needed. To control seed borne pathogens of downy mildew (fungal disease) treat the seed with carbendazim or thiram at 2g kg-1 seed. One day after seed treatment with fungicide, treat the seeds with 600 g of Azospirillum with rice gruel and shade dry for 15 minutes. Azosprillum treatments help in the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen in the soil and provide nourishment to the growing plants.

Sowing 
Sow the seeds at 1/3rd of ridge from the bottom. Adopt a spacing of 10 cm from plant to plant and sow two seeds per hill.

Maize sowing

Irrigation 
Immediately after sowing, irrigate the field. Then give life irrigation on third day and irrigate depending upon the condition of the field. Generally for maize, upto 30 days, less number of irrigation is given. Afterwards, it is necessary to irrigate once in 10 days. At this stage, the female cobs will be in silky stage. During this stage, if you fail to irrigate, the silk will not emerge from the cob, leading to poor pollination and seed setting and seed production is affected.

Fertilizer application 

Apart from FYM applied before ploughing apply inorganic fertilizers like 200 kg urea, 465 kg of super phosphate and 170 kg of potash per ha as basal dose.  Twenty days after sowing, apply 50 kg urea and at 40 days after  sowing 110 kg urea and 45 kg potash as top dressing.

Maize seed crop

Micronutrient deficiency

Any nutrient deficiency in maize will adversely affect the growth of the plant. Generally due to micronutrient deficiency, the yield is reduced.

Zn and Mg deficiency occurs largely in leaves. You can directly seed the faded young shoot due Zn deficiency. And in between the veins of mature leaves yellow lines are seen. To overcome these deficiencies apply ZnSO4 @ 20 kg ha-1 as basal fertilizer. 

Mg deficiency will cause yellowish – symptoms between edges and veins of basal leaves. The whole plant will have yellowish appearance due to Fe deficiency. To over come the above deficiencies broadcast the micronutrient mixture @ 62.5 ha-1 mixed with 40 kg sand, after sowing the seeds.

Attention 
Observe the plants closely for micronutrient deficiency and apply the required micronutrients

Weed management 

Take two hand weedings on 25 and 45 days after sowing. After weeding, apply fertilizer as top dressing and do the earthing up operation. Herbicides can also be applied. Spraying of Atrazin 500 g mixed in 1000 lit water and life irrigation on third day controls the weeds in maize fields.

Roguing 

Generally roguing is done three times in maize. However, roguing is carried out depending upon the necessity. During roguing, off type and diseased plants are removed from the seed field. Roguing helps in maintaining the genetic purity of seeds. It is necessary to know the distinguishing features of the variety for effective roguing.

 

• First roguing should be done during vegetative stage, based on the height of the plant, colour of petiole and colour of leaf.
• During flowering stage, second roguing is done based on colour of tassel and silk.
• Finally, before harvest, based on colour of seed and cob characteristics, roguing can be done.
• During drying of the cobs, roguing of cob based on seed colour and seed row will maintain the genetic purity.

Attention 
During roguing at flowering stage, the off types should be removed away from the field immediately. Otherwise it will contaminate the silk and affect the genetic purity.

Plant protection

Insect control 

Mix any of the granular insecticides with sand to make up a total quantity of 50 kg and apply in the leaf whorls on the 20th day of sowing. Quinalphos 5 G 15kg ha-1 and Carbaryl 4 G 20 kg ha-1 for the control of stem borer, weevils and aphids.

If granular insecticides are not used, spray Quinalphos 25 EC 1 lit or Carbaryl 50 WP 1 kg ha-1 on the 20th day of sowing (500 litres of spray fluid ha-1).

Disease control

1. Downy mildew: Rougue out affected plants. Spray Metalaxyl 72 WP @ 1 kg ha-1 or Mancozeb 1 kg ha-1 20 days after sowing.
2. Leaf spot: Spray Mancozeb or Captan 1 kg ha-1 when the disease intensity is high.

Harvest 

Time of harvest

Harvest the crop when the outer cover of the cob turns from green to white colour. At the time of harvest, moisture content of the seed will be around 25 per cent.

Maize cob ready for harvest

Cob sorting

It is an important operation in maize to maintain genetic purity. Farm women can attend to this work efficiently. Remove very small sized cobs. The cobs which show difference in seed rows and seed colour should be identified and removed. The cobs with very less seeds also should be removed.

Cob sorting

Shelling
           
Seeds can be separated by mechanical means. For this operation, moisture content should be around 15 per cent for seed and 25 per cent for cob. By maintaining the moisture at this level, mechanical damage can be avoided. Seeds can also be separated from cob by beating with sticks. If the seeds are not in appropriate moisture content, occurrence of mechanical damage may occur to an extent of 48 per cent. Seeds with mechanical damage may invite fungal attack.

Husker sheller for maize

Seed drying 

After shelling, dry the seeds. Mechanical seed driers can be used for this purpose. During drying, air temperature should not go beyond 40°C. Likewise avoid drying under the hot sun and the seeds can be dried in the morning or evening hours under mild sun.

Seed grading 

Quality seeds can be obtained by size grading the seeds with 18/64" round perforated sieves. Thereby you get good quality seeds of uniform size.

Seed yield 

Quality seed yield of 2500 kg ha-1 can be obtained.

Seed storage 

Dry the seeds to 12% moisture content and treat with Captan or Thiram 75 per cent wettable powder @ 70g per 100 kg seeds mixed in 500 ml of water. Treated seed packed in cloth bag can be stored for more than one year. Seeds dried upto 8 per cent moisture, treated with above chemicals and packed in moisture vapour proof polyethylene bag can be stored for 1½ years. Instead of toxic chemicals, you can also use nontoxic chemicals like halogen mixture for seed treatment.  This will reduce the environmental pollution and ensures safety to the person engaged in seed treatment.

Seeds treated with halogen mixture @ 3 g kg-1 can also be stored well. Prepare the halogen mixture by mixing bleaching powder (CaOCl2) + Calcium Carbonate (CaCO3) + arappu leaf powder (Albizzia amara) in 5:4:1 ratio and keeping in vapour proof jar for one week. Then use it for seed treatment. Halogen mixture is nontoxic.

  

Maize seed packing in 700 guage polybag

Seed Certification

Field Standards (certified seed)

Factor	Maximum permitted (%)
Off types plants that have shed or shedding pollen when 5% or more than 5% of the female flowers are in receptive stage.	0.20
Pure seed (minimum)	98.0%
Inert matter (maximum)	2.0%
Other crop seeds (maximum)	5/kg
Other distinguishable varieties based on kernel colour and texture (maximum)	5/kg
Weed seeds	Nil
Germination (minimum)-Inbreds	80%
Moisture content (maximum) Moisture pervious container	12.0%
Moisture vapour poof container	8.0%

 

QUALITY SEED PRODUCTION IN MAIZE HYBRIDS

Introduction 
           
Even though the hybrid seed production methods are same as that of varieties, some additional techniques have to be followed. The hybrid seeds are produced by crossing female and male lines and harvesting the seeds from female line. Maize hybrid seed production there is no male sterility system in female plants. The female and male parents of few maize hybrids are:

Hybrid	Female	Male
COH (M) 4	(UMI 190 x UMI 1285)	UMI 112
COH (M) 5	Single cross hybrid of UMI 285	UMI 61

Attention 
     
Rains during seed maturation phase will cause discolouration due to fungal attack thereby seed quality is reduced.

Isolation distance 

Since maize is a cross pollinated crop, it is necessary to isolate seed field from other maize fields. For this isolate the hybrid seed crop from fields of other maize varieties with same seed colour by 200 m distance. And for other varieties with different seed colour give 300 m isolation distance.

Land requirement 

For maize hybrid seed production, well drained sandy red or black cotton soil is suitable. The selected fields should be free from volunteer maize plants.

Field preparation 

Plough the field five to six times to get fine tilth. Spread 12.5 tons of FYM or composted coir pith and 10 packets of Azospirilluim in the field. Prepare ridges and furrows with 60 cm spacing. Ridges and furrows enable the saving of irrigation water.

Sowing operation

Seed rate

For one hectare 5 kg female and 2 kg male line seeds are needed. Treat the seeds with Azospirillum biofertilizer as described for varieties. 

Seed treatment 

To control seed borne pathogens of downy mildew (fungal disease) treat the seed with carbendazim or thiram at 2g kg-1 seed. One day after seed treatment with fungicide, treat the seeds with 600 g of Azospirillum with rice gruel and shade dry for 15 minutes. Azosprillum treatments help in the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen in the soil and provide nourishment to the growing plants.

Sowing 
           
Ridges and furrows at 60 cm spacing is to be formed. 2 seeds per hill on the sides of ridges adopting a spacing of 25 cm between the plant is sown. During sowing, a planting ratio of 4 female lines and 2 male lines (4:2) should be followed. Four female line rows should alternate with two male rows.

Border rows 

Sow three border rows all around the seeds field with male line seeds.

Irrigation 
           
Immediately after sowing, irrigate the field. Then given life irrigation on third day and provide subsequent irrigations depending upon the condition of the field. Generally for maize, upto 30 days, less irrigation is given. Then it is necessary to irrigate once in 10 days. Smooth silk will emerge out from the cob for fertilization. During this stage, you have to irrigate so that, the silk will come out smoothly from the cob and seed setting will occur.

 Fertilizer application

Apply 25 tonnes of FYM per ha. Then apply inorganic fertilizers at 100 kg N, 100 kg P and 50 kg K per ha as basal dose. On 20th and 40th day after sowing, apply 50 kg N and   25 kg P as top dressing.

Micronutrient deficiency

Any nutrient deficiency in maize will adversely affect the growth of the plant. Generally due to micronutrient deficiency, the yield is reduced.

Zn and Mg deficiency occurs largely in leaves. You can directly seed the faded young shoot due Zn deficiency. And in between the veins of mature leaves yellow lines are seen. To overcome these deficiencies apply ZnSO4 @ 20 kg ha-1 as basal fertilizer.

Mg deficiency will cause yellowish – symptoms between edges and veins of basal leaves. The whole plant will have yellowish appearance due to Fe deficiency. To over come the above deficiencies you have to broadcast the micronutrient mixture @ 62.5 ha-1 mixed with 40 kg sand, after sowing the seeds.

Weed management

Take two hand weeding on 25 DAS and 45 days after sowing. After weeding, apply fertilizers as top dressing and do the earthing up operation. Herbicides can also be applied. Spraying of Atrazin 500 g mixed in 1000 lit water and life irrigation on third day control the weeds.

Roguing 
           
Rogue the off type plants as described for varieties. Do the rouging operation separately in female and male lines. Remove the male plants in female lines and female plants in male lines, plants of other varieties and off-type and diseased plants.

What is offtypes?

Plant or seed deviating significantly from the characteristics of a variety as described by the breeder in any observed respect.

Attention 
                      
During roguing at flowering stage, the off types should be removed away from the field immediately. Otherwise it will contaminate the silk and affect the genetic purity.

Plant protection

Insect control

Generally insect attack is very less in maize. In young plants, only shoot fly affects the shoots. Stem borer affects the shoot on 25-30 days after sowing. The affected shoots will dry and the sizes of the cob will be reduced when the crop attains maturity. Therefore, it is necessary to apply carbofuran granules @ 7.5 kg per acre @ 2 granules per plant.

Disease control

1. Downy mildew:  Rogue out affected plants. Spray Metalaxyl 72 WP @ 1 kg ha-1, or Mancozeb 1 kg ha-1 20 days after sowing.
2. Leaf spot: Spray Mancozeb or Captan 1 kg ha-1 when the disease intensity is high.

Detasselling 
           
Male inflorescence of maize plant is called tassel. Removal of tassels from female plants immediately after emergence is called detasselling. Detasselling should be continued for 14 days. It is done to enable crossing of female parent with male.

           
Detasselling is done by holding the stalk with left hand, a little below the tassel, taking a firm hold of the entire with the right hand and removing tassel by a steady upward pull. Entire tassel should be removed without leaving any portion within the leaf. The removed tassels should be buried at the same place itself. Remove the tassels perfectly without damage to the leaves.

  

[Female flower (Cob) in Maize] [ Male flower (tassel) in Maize]

Detasselling technique

Attention 
           
Removed tassels should not be left on the field they may also shed the pollen causing contamination.  

Harvest 
          
Judge the optimum harvesting stage as that of varieties and harvest the male and female parental lines separately. First, the male lines should be harvested fully, after the removal of cobs of male lines from the field, the female lines should be harvested. The seeds harvested from the female line is the hybrid seed.

Cob sorting

Remove very small sized cobs. The cobs which show difference in seed rows, seed number and colour should be identified and removed. And the cobs with very less seeds also should be removed.

Shelling 
           
Seeds can be separated by mechanical means. For this, moisture content should be around 15% for seed and 25% for cob. After harvesting, cobs may be dried to the required moisture level before shelling. So that mechanical damage can be reduced. Seeds can also be separated from cob by beating with sticks.  If the seeds are not shelled at correct moisture level, occurrence of mechanical damage may go upto 18 per cent, which will invite fungal attack.

Seed drying 

After shelling, dry the seeds, Seed drier can be used for drying. During drying, air temperature should not go beyond 40°C. Likewise avoid drying under hot sun and dry seeds during the morning or evening hours under mild sun.

Seed grading 

Quality seed with uniform size can be obtained by size grading the seeds with 18/64" round perforated sieves.

Seed yield

By adopting the above techniques, 1500 kg per ha of hybrid seed can be harvested.

Seed storage 

Dry the seeds to 12% moisture content and treat with Captain or Thiram 75% wettable powder @ 70 g per 100 kg seeds mixed in 500 ml water. Treated seeds packed in cloth bag can be stored for more than one year. Seeds   dried upto 8% moisture, treated with above chemicals and packed in vapour poof polyethylene bag can be stored for 1½ years. As you have learnt in the earlier lesson on varieties, seeds can be stored by treating with halogen mixture also.

Seed certification

Seed certification guarantees the quality of seed as it ensures that the certified seed has the genetic, physical, physiological and seed health qualities.  Genetic purity means that the seed gives rise to a plant which conforms to the varietal characteristics of the variety. The physical purity means that the seed is free from stones, broken seeds, straw bits and leaf bits etc. Physiological quality is measured by germination and seed health envisages freedom from pest and diseases.

Seed certification is being done in many stages. It starts from verifying whether seeds were obtained from authenticated source, verification of isolation distance and inspection during plant growth, flowering, harvesting, processing and bagging. Also seed samples are drawn form the seed lot and sent to seed testing lab to test whether the seeds are possessing required physical purity and germination. Then certification tag is issued. Colour of the tag is blue for certified seeds.
           
Only those seeds harvested from fields having prescribed field standards and possessing required seed standards are certified by the Certification Agency. Seeds thus certified are offered for sales. For further details nearer seed certification office may be contacted.

Field standards (Certified seed)

Factor	Maximum permitted (%)
Off types (%) maximum Shedding tassel (% ) maximum	0.5 1.0

Seed standards (Certified seed)

Factor	Maximum permitted (%)
Physical purity minimum	98.0%
Inert matter maximum	2.0%
Other crop seeds maximum	10.0/kg
Other distinguishable varieties (maximum)	10.0/kg (Number)
Weed seeds basal on kernel colour and texture	Nil
Germination (minimum)	90.0
Moisture (%) (maximum) For moisture vapour pervious	12.0%
For moixture vapour poof containers (maximum)	8.0%