Mucuna pruriens

Plant profile

Mucuna pruriens

Morphological Characteristics

• The plant is an annual, climbing shrub with long vines that can reach over 15 meters in length.
• When the plant is young, it is almost completely covered with fuzzy hairs, shed with age.
• The leaves are tri-pinnate, ovate, or rhomboid shaped. In young plants, both sides of the leaves are hairy.

Floral Characteristics

• The flowers are arranged in axillary arrayed panicles, 15 to 32 cm long and each have two to many flowers.
• The accompanying leaves are about 12.5 cm long.
• The vines come into flowering after 120-125 days of sowing and continue to bear flowers and fruits till 180-200 days.
• Mucuna pruriens bears white, lavender or purple flowers.
• Its pods are about 10-20 cm long and are covered with loose white to creamish hairs that cause a severe itching if they come in contact with skin.
• The chemical compounds responsible for the itch are a protein, mucunain and serotinin.
• The seeds are shiny black, brown or spotted white in colour.

Pod Characteristics

• Pods are 4 to 10 cm long, 1 to 2 cm wide at the time of maturity.
• The husk is very hairy and carries upto seven seeds.
• The seeds are round or flattened, uniform, ellipsoid, 1.0 to 1.9 cm long, 0.8 to 1.3 cm wide and 4 to 6.5 cm thick.
• The hilum, the base of the funiculus (connection between placenta and seeds) is surrounded by a significant arillus (fleshy seeds shell).

Distribution

• Globally this species is widely distributed in the tropical regions of Asia and Pan Tropics.
• It is found in most part of India, upto 1000 meter elevation includes Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Climate and Soil

• The crop grows in all types of soils, but sandy loam soil with good drainage and pH between 5.50 to 7.50 is preferred.
• It thrives in sub-tropical to tropical climate with a minimum temperature of 15°C in winter and maximum of 38°C in summer months.
• The crop is seen growing in varied climate such as coastal humid climate to dry arid climate. Hence the crop is said to be highly acclimatizing and adaptive.

Propagation Material

• Seeds

Agro-technique

Nursery Technique

Planting in the Field

• Seed Viability: The seeds harvested from the mature fruits are viable for more than two years, recording viability of more than 90%. The germination percentage declines after 2 to 3 years of storage.
• Land Preparation and Fertilizer Application: The field should be ploughed well to make the soil porous to facilitate germination and sprouting of seeds. Farm yard manure at the rate of 10 to 20 t/ha at the time of land preparation is applied to the field.
• Time of Planting: It is 180 to 200 days duration crop and is sown in last week of June prior to onset of rainy season. The germination takes 8 to 10 days and the field is stocked with young growing vines in 9 months period. These vines need support of bamboo sticks for better growth and higher seed production.
• Spacing: Results from field experiments have shown that planting at a distance of 1X0.75 m/ha or 1.0X0.6 m/ha depending upon soil fertility produces 2.5 to 3.0 t/ha of seed on pandal support system.
• Manure and Fertilizers: Field experiments on the use of fertilizers have shown that 75, 50 and 50 kg/ha of NPK produce high seed yield. They are applied preferably in 2 to 3 doses. The fertilizers P and K are applied along with FYM at the time of sowing. The crop begins to produce mature pods after 140 days and 2 to 3 pickings of pods are taken at the interval of 20 days during pod maturing. The pods are plucked when they turn brown and appear drying.
• Irrigation: It is given fortnightly irrigation during dry season and one irrigation per month is required in winter during pod picking.
• Disease and Pest Control: Sometimes, collar rot during initial stges of seedling growth has been found which can be managed by applications of 2 kg Trichorich (a formulation of trichoderma in neem cake) and 2 kg Pseudomonas fluorescens mixed with 500 kg FYM and applied to the root region. Amongst insect pests, the leaf eating hairy caterpillar is found to damage the crop during pre-flowering stage. To control the pest, Neem soap is recommended to be sprayed at the rate of 5 gm/lit.

Harvest Management

• Crop Maturity and Harvesting: The crop matures in about 140 days after sowing. Mature pods are harvested to collect seeds from the pods. At the time of harvesting the pods turn to greyish-brown in colour indicating maturity for picking. Normally 3-7 seeds are found in a pod and 5-6 pods per inflorescence are generally available. Thus, about25-30bunches can be harvested per plant. Normally 100 seeds weigh 90-110 gm.
• Post-harvest Management: The pods thus harvested from the field are dried in the sunlight for 4-7 days; the seeds are further dried in shade to reach approximately 7-8% moisture in the seeds. The seeds are normally stored in gunny bags made of jute and then covered with polythene to protect from absorption of atmospheric moisture.
• Chemical Constituents: The seeds contain high amounts of L-DOPA that is used in the treatment of Parkinson's disease. It also contains lecithin, a glucoside and a number of alkaloids including nicotine, prurienine, pruriedine, the seed kernel contain fatty oil.
• Yield: Seed yield is high between 2.5 to 3.0 t/ha on large scale cultivation. The L-DOPA content from the seed range between 3 to 4%. A high yielding culture called “Zhandu Kanchha” is developed through crossing and selection by Zandu Foundation of Health Care. It yields high L-DOPA (4.5%) and high seed yield; the seed is devoid of stinging hairs. .

Therapeutic Uses

• Seeds are used as tonic, aphrodisiac and the in treatment of Parkinson's disease.
• The decoction of the seeds is used in rheumatic ailments.
• Farmers raise it as a fodder and green manuring crop in Central and Southern Indian States.