Pongamia Essay

3.1 Pongamia pinnata

Pongamiapinnatabelonging to the family Fabaceae (Papilionaceae). Itis also called Derris indicaand Pongamiaglabra. Itis a medium-sized evergreen tree with a spreadingcrown and a short bole. The tree is planted forshade and is grown as ornamental tree. It is a fast growing, glabrous,deciduous, trunk diameter to 60 cm, bark smooth,gray. Leaves imparipinnate, shiny, young,pinkish red, mature leaves glossy and deep green;leaßets - 5-9, the terminal leaß et larger than theothers, stipels none, stipules caduceus. In the Tamil, this is generally known as ‘Ponga’, ‘Dalkaramacha’, ‘Pongam’ and ‘Punku’. In both the languages of Hindi and Bengali, the people named it as ‘Karanj’ or ‘Papar’ or ‘Kanji’. It is called ‘Karum Tree’ or

It is very tolerant of saline conditions and alkalinity, and occurs naturally in lowland forest on limestone and rocky coral outcrops on the coast, along the edges of mangrove forest and along tidal streams and rivers. It is also drought resistant and well adapted to adverse climatic conditions and soil moisture conditions; prolonged drought may however kill seedlings. In its natural habitat, the species tolerates a wide temperature range. Mature trees withstand light frost, water logging and tolerate temperatures of up to 50°C. In addition to rain, trees require a dry season of 2-6 months. The ‘Pongam Tree’ is being cultivated in a large number of gardens and along the countless roads in India and is becoming the one of the most admired city

The press cake (seed residue) after oil extraction is bitter and unfit for use as a sole animal feed. It is high in protein, but posses several toxic flavonoids including 1.25% karanjin, and 0.85% pongamol alkaloid, resin, mucilage, sugar and tannin. These toxins are oil soluble and most of the toxins are removed during solvent extraction of oil from cake with hexane. The de-oiled cakes could be used in compound cattle feed. It is suggested as a short-term substitute for other protein sources but never serving as more than a 75% replacement. The cake contains nitrogen (N) 5.1%, phosphorous (P2O5) 1.1% and potash (K2O) 1.3% and has been reported as a useful organic manure for sugarcane, coffee, oranges, and paddy. It repeals red ants and also reported effective for nematode controls. It also possesses nitrification inhibition property and cake is used in blending with nitrogenous