Abstract:
Lac, due to its use in high valued diversified field and being bio-degradable in nature, has gain momentum in cultivation in recent times, accounting for about 50–60% of the total world lac production in India. Out of cultivation of two dominating lac strain (
kusmi and
rangeeni), focus of
kusmi lac cultivation has remained on
Schleichera oleosa (
kusum) as summer crop and on
Ziziphus mauritiana (
ber) and
Flemingia semialata as winter crop. However expanding plantation of
F. semialata in newer non-conventional areas (area without alternate host) requires attention on sustainable broodlac production during summer on other conventional lac host. Present investigation was carried out to find out the performance of
F. semialata planted in
Albizia procera (
siris) plantation for conserving broodlac during summer season at research farm of ICAR- Indian Institute of Natural Resins and Gums, Ranchi for two consecutive seasons.
Semialata plants near (plants in the periphery of 3.0 m radius of
siris tree) and far from
siris tree (plants located in between
siris trees but beyond 3.0 m radius of
siris tree) recorded 84.8 and 60.9 per cent higher broodlac, 32.3 and 25.6 percent higher total lac yield with 20.9 and 18.4 per cent lower rejected lac yield over control (plants located in open environment), respectively. The mean broodlac yield per plant on
F. semialata planted near and far from tree in
siris plantation were 134.1 and 116.8 g/plant, respectively, with average yield of 125.4 g/plant. Broodlac yield recorded during summer season under
siris plantation in the study was 58.2 per cent lower than broodlac yield potential (300 g/plant) of normal winter season crop on
F. semialata, but it may be inoculated on 3-4 bush of
semialata to raise
winter
crop. This will help to maintain crop cycle and thus sustainable lac cultivation. Higher broodlac and lesser rejected lac yield on
semialata in
siris plantation could probably be due to higher shoot length, weight of single cell, weight of broodlac per meter of shoot length and lesser weight of rejected lac per meter of shoot length. Hence,
sustainable broodlac production on
F. semialata may be taken under
siris plantation during summer in newer areas, where suitable lac host species for summer lac cultivation (
kusum) is not available.