Insights into Exploitation of Jute (Corchorus sp.) as Leafy Vegetables | Chapter 7 | Research Perspective on Biological Science Vol. 6

 

Jute is one of the most important cash crops for India, widely known for its natural plant-based fibre. Among its various parts, jute leaves are rich in valuable chemical compounds and play a significant role in both national and international markets. Demand for unconventional potherbs is increasing, and known medicinal values or high content of vitamin A or protein or vitamin C has increased the popularity of jute as an affordable nutritional source. Traditional use of jute leaves as “pat shak” or potherbs (edible plant parts such as leaves, flowers, and stems used for cooking or seasoning) is still practised in select regions of India.

 

The present study was undertaken with five varieties each of Corchorus olitorius (C. olitorius) and Corchorus capsularis (C. capsularis) grown in the teaching Farm Mondouri, BCKV, in a Randomised Block Design (RBD) with four replications during 2018- 2019 (4 rows of 4 m each) following recommended agronomic practices.

 

The experiment was conducted in the Teaching Farm located at Mondouri, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavdyalay, West Bengal, India. Planting was done in the first week of April and was harvested after one month. Biomass traits like leaf length (cm), number of leaves per plant, leaf width (cm), petiole length (cm), plant height(cm), weight per plant (gm) were recorded along with an estimation of Vitamin A, Vitamin C and protein content in the leaves.

 

In C. olitorius, heritability was moderately high in all the traits except for the number of leaves, along with moderate Genetic Advance as per cent of Mean (GAM) for Leaf length, fresh weight, indicating that these may be due to additive gene effects and selection for these types of traits may always be rewarding.  In C. capsularis, heritability was moderately high for all traits except for the leaf length and leaf width. Moderate GAM for other traits like petiole length, plant height, leaf numbers, and fresh weight indicates that this may be due to additive gene effects and selection for these types of traits may be rewarding. C. olitorius recorded high biomass yield along with high content of vitamin A (5780 IU, approximately 30 % that found in carrot), which can serve as a cheap source of vitamin A in the eastern and northeast provinces where it can be successfully taken as a vegetable as it happens to be one among the twenty-five popularly cultivated leafy vegetables (shaks) in West Bengal. Young jute leaves, being flavourful, tender and rich in beta-carotene, iron, calcium, and vitamin C, can be a lucrative alternative. The criteria of selection for improvement of yield can be taken in terms of wt (g) per 10 plants, as suggested particularly for both the species, along with the width of leaves, or leaf length in case of C. olitorius. It can be stated that the traits, like the number of leaves in the case of C. olitorius and the traits like plant height or leaf length, in the case of C. capsularis, are more affected by environmental variations.

 

 

Author(s) Details

Debjani Mondal
Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswvavidyalaya, Nadia, West Bengal, 741252, India.

 

Amrita Kumari
Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswvavidyalaya, Nadia, West Bengal, 741252, India.

 

Sourav Hazari
Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswvavidyalaya, Nadia, West Bengal, 741252, India.

 

K Pramanik
Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswvavidyalaya, Nadia, West Bengal, 741252, India.

 

Sri Sai Subramanyam Dash
Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswvavidyalaya, Nadia, West Bengal, 741252, India.

 

Anita Roy
Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswvavidyalaya, Nadia, West Bengal, 741252, India.

 

 

Please see the book here:- https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/rpbs/v6/5960