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Medicinal Plant details

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Sanskrit Name	Haridra, Varavarnini (WOA, 1998).

Common name in English	Turmeric, common turmeric

Botanical Name	Curcuma longa L. (ITIS, 2004)

Historical Accounts	From the time immemorial turmeric has been used by the Ayurvedoc amd the Unani practitioners in india as a stomachic tonic and a blood purifier.It is also used an antiperiodic and alternative.

Parts Used	Rhizome

Human Medicinal Usage	ETHNIC COMMUNITIES OF ARUNACHAL PRADESH AND ASSAM: Rhizome: in migrain; SANTALS : (i) Rhizome: in hazy vision, inflammation of eye, night blindness, subnormal temperature after fever, spleen consumption, Basli rog (pain similar to rheumatism), rheumatism due to draught, lock-jaw, Rosbi (stealth convulsions with indistinct speech), chronic scabies, sores and curbuncles, infantile atrophy, indigestion, prolapsus ani and fistula ani, bronchitis, cough and cold, puerperal fever; (ii) Extract of Rhizome: in rhagades; (iii) Bulb: in drying up of lactation; (iv) Flower: in cholera, sores in throat, syphilis; (v) Dried Flower: in icterus; ETHNIC COMMUNITIES OF RANCHI and HAZARIBAGH(Bihar): (i) Leaf: in cold, fever, pneumonia; GARHWALI: Rhizome: in pimples and feckles on face, wounds, leprosy; KUMAONI : Rhizome: in cough, insect stings, wounds; ETHNIC COMMUNITIES OF KURUKSHETRA (Haryana) : Rhizome: in body pain, headache; TRIBES OF ARAKU VALLEY (Andhra Pradesh) : Rhizome: as anthelmintic.. RIGVEDA : Rhizome: improves body complexion and apetite; YAJURVEDA : Rhizome: is a blood-purifier, improves body complexion; CHARAKA SAMHITA : laxative, useful in leprosyand against contaminuos microbes; SUSHRUTA SAMHITA : digestive; AYURVEDA : Rhizome: effective against bacterial infection, skin diseases, intestinal worms, liver complaints, stammering, filaria, asthma, sprain, boils, wounds, conjuctivitis, thirst due to phlegm, allergic reactions, against leeches, .minor ingredient of a drug for malarial fever. SIDDHA: Rhizome: ingredient of Kappu mancal, Manchal. UNANI: ingredient of 'Majnoor-e-falsfa', useful in gastrointestinal complaints; Powder of rhizome: used as antifertility agent. Rhizome is a bitter, stomachic, anthelmic, and antiscorbutic. They are useful in stomach disorders, intestinal worms, scabies and pruritis,sour, astringent, bitter, thermogenic, constipating, anaphrodisiac, apetiser and antipyretic and is useful in vitiated conditions of pitta, and kapha, hyperdipsia, diarrhoea, anorexia, and intermittent fevers,cooling, appetiser, and antiscorbutic, and is useful in anorexia, burning sensation, skin diseases, scabies, and prurities.The rhizomes are bitter, acrid ,emollient, anodyne, vulnerary, laxative, appetiser, stomachic, carminative ,anthelmintic, diuretic, expectorant, antiperiodic, alternative, dexeteric, febrifuge, tonic.

Veterinary Medicinal Usage	Mix 10 g of rhizome of Curcuma domestica and 10 g butter, apply on tongue of animal thrice daily for 3 days to cure diarrhea. When white Diarrhea or Ranikhet occurs in poultry, the affected chicken must be removed and kept separately. Then turmeric, a little tamarind fruit and Aloe vera should all be ground together and mixed with polished (broken) rice for the feed. This practice helps prevent mortality in birds. The newly calved mother is cleaned with hot water in the pelvic portion and in the udder region. The calved mother is then smeared with a paste prepared from turmeric and vasumbu i. .e Acorus calamus.(Anonymous, 2002). Turmeric and leaves of cheruppadithalai (Coldenia procumbens) are ground and smeared over the wounds caused by yolk galls for three days (Anonymous, 2002). 250 gm turmeric (Curcuma longa), ten gm laung (Caryophyllus aromaticus), ten gm dal chini (Cinnamomum zeylanicum) and two fruits of jaifal (Myristica fragrans) when mixed and ground, can be an effective antiseptic powder to heal chronic payogenic wounds (Anonymous, 2001). A mixture of 500 gm ghee kaur (Aloe vera), 500 gm camphor, 100 gm turmeric (Curcuma longa) and 100 gm til oil helps in the speedy healing of burn injuries/ wounds in animals when applied on the affected portion (Anonymous, 2001). Prepare a mixture of 250 g variyali (Foeniculum vulgare), 50 g turmeric powder, and 500g vegetable ghee. This, when given to the animal to drink, loosens the stiffness in the body of the animal and relieves joint pains (Raval, 1998). Indian curry containing turmeric when applied on skin cures skin diseases in horse. (Manandhar, 2000). In case of yolk gall and abscess, remove the abscess and clean the area with pachilai (Ocimum basilicum) juice. Then apply a balm made of castor oil, copper sulphate, boron, turmeric powder, bark of Calotropis gigantea and lime powder (Anonymous, 1998). Fifty g of turmeric, 200 g of raw rice and 200 g of Palmyrah jaggery are pounded together and fed to the animal. This will induce the retained placenta to fall out (Balasundaram, 1998). Leaves or seeds of gingelly are ground with two pieces of turmeric and administered orally to the animal for retention of placenta (Anonymous, 2002). Three handfuls of Perumarundhu (Aristolochia indica) leaves along with roots, 15g of dried ginger, and 15 g of arisithippili (Piper longum), 15 gof omam (Ptychotisa jowan) and 15 g of turmeric are pounded together and made into three balls. One bolus may be given in the morning, another in the evening and the third in the next morning. This treatment is believed to cure fever, cough, anorexia and bloat. Clean turmeric powder mixed with castor oil is applied to the inflamed udder three times a day to treat mastitis (Iyyappan, 1995). Turmeric powder, tender leaves of neem, common salt and leaves of Cynodon dactylon are made into paste to be applied over the blisters in the mouth of cattle (Anonymous, 1995). 'Methi' (Trigonella foenum), seeds of (5.00 kg), 'kalijeeri' (Vernonia anthelmintica) 1.50 kg, 'kalu' (0.75 kg), turmeric (0.50 kg), 'hing' (Asafoetidia spp) powder (0.25 kg), black salt (0.25 kg), 'ajmo' (Trachyspermum spp) seeds (1.50 kg), dry ginger powder (0.25 kg) are mixed with jaggery in the ratio of 2:1. A ball is made out of the mixture and fed to the horse every morning to increase the blood supply (Chauhan, 1996). Turmeric mixed with common edible salt is fed to control diarrhoea in poultry birds. To alleviate flatulence in animals, turmeric powder and salt are mixed together in equal quantities. A little water is added to the mixture to make a paste which is then rubbed on the affected animals back for about five to 10 minutes (Panchal, 1994) For preventing ticks, Gulab ben mixes 50 g of turmeric powder (Curcuma longa) with 100 g of castor oil and rubs the mixture on the affected parts of the body for three days. Powdered turmeric (Curcuma longa) is mixed with butter and a small portion of this mixture is applied on the tip of the stem of Caloptopis plant. It is inserted into the nostril of the animal suffering from cold and cough two to three times (Anonymous, 1998). A mixture made from the roots of chettu veela (Algeria nervosa), roots of paradu teega (Algeria pylosa), Palm-jaggery, turmeric and vamu (Ajma) is administered to cattle to increase the milk yield (Anonymous, 1997). One matured coconut kernel, 100g of common salt, and 50g of kolunchi (Tephrosia purpurea) leaves and 50g of turmeric are pounded and mixed in one litre of fermented rice water This tonic is given to the animal for 7 days (Anonymous, 1997). A mixture of two spoonfuls of turmeric powder and a hen's egg (without the shell) is applied on the site of the fracture and covered with five to seven level of `gundi' (Cordia gharaf). A bandage is then tied around the affected area. The treatment shows positive effects within five to seven days (Pagi, 1993). Sometimes in male chicken, the comb (locally `Kalgi') becomes dark red and a spine-like structure appears on the tail. A northern Gujarat remedy involves removing the spine-like structure with a knife and applying turmeric powder to stop the bleeding (Parmar, 1992). The suspension of onion and turmeric powder mixed in equal quantity in whey milk is given to the animals for controlling flatulence (Deddu, 1992). To induce heat in animals, raw milk (1/4 litre) of cow is added to the plant extract prepared from young leaves (handful) of Ponnavarai (Cassia senna) and two rhizomes of turmeric. To this, salt (100 gm) is added and stirred well. The final solution is made up to one litre by diluting with water and administered to the animal (Anonymous, 1996). A piece of cloth dipped in blood of pig, poultry manure, human hair and turmeric powder is burnt in front of the animal to produce smoke. By inhaling this smoke, the animal will get relief from fever. A mixture of salt, jaggery and turmeric powder is applied on the dislocated part of the animal (Patel, 1991). Fumigation of cattle yard, and affected animals by burning neem leaves, dried fish waste and turmeric powder mixture is a common practice of treatment of FMD (Yadav, 1995). After castration of animals, people rub turmeric powder mixed with mustard oil on the wound. This helps in reducing the temperature caused because of the hammer impact. It also serves as an antiseptic application and helps to heal the wound faster. Turmeric is used as an ingredient for the preparation used in artificial calving for inducing feeding in cows (Mallikarjuna, 1999). A paste is prepared by mixing 200 g turmeric powder, 500 g human hair and 250 to 500 g til (Sesamum indicum) oil. This paste is applied to the fractured area. Then strips of bamboo are placed on the fractured bones and a bandage is tied (Nandasania, 1998). In Mareks disease, the young ducks limp. In extreme cases, the movement and growth of the young ducks becomes very limited. It also poses a serious problem in broiler stock.The affected ducks are dipped in water mixed with turmeric (Mandal, 2001).

Agriculture Usage	An age-old practice to control semi looper larvae is to attract birds by keeping rice cooked with turmeric powder (Parmar, 1992). Prepare a solution by soaking 10 kg of wet cowdung, one kg of neem cake, one kg groundnut cake, one kg jaggery and 100 gm of turmeric powder in 50 litres of water for 48 hours. This is filtered and sprayed on the seedlings from three to four times and is helpful in controlling almost all diseases and pests attacking seedlings (Anonymous, 2002). Phytopalm, a herbal pesticide against coconut mite is made from ten herbs: "kolingi" (Tephrosia pupurea), "notchi" (Vitex negundo), Lantana camara, Vinca rosea, Pongamia pinnata, Annona squamosa, Turmeric (Curcuma longa), Neem (Azadirachta indica), Garlic (Allium sativum) and Cassica auriculata (Louis, 2001). Herbal extract from equal amounts (one kg) of leaves of Custard apple (Annona squamosa), turmeric rhizome, 'peenari changu' (Clerodendrum inermi), chothukatralai (Aloe vera), nochi (Vitex negundo) and neem (Azadirachta indica) kernel is used for controlling Eriophid mite in coconut (Louise, 2001). Cowdung mixed with turmeric and neem cake is used to coat the floor and sides of the tank used for earth worm composting to prevent ant attack (Rekha, 1999). Seeds are mixed with turmeric (Curcuma longa) powder and castor (Ricinus communis) oil at the rate of about 50 g castor oil and 25 g turmeric powder for one kg seed. They are then dried in the sun. Such seeds remain free from pest attack during storage. When turmeric is cultivated on the embankments of the fish tank, generally otter does not come to hunt fish in that tank (Choudhury, 1999). About 400 g of oleander (Nerium odorum) roots are cut into small pieces and soaked overnight in 1.5 ltr of water. Twenty grams of turmeric powder is added to it to make a paste. This paste is applied to the infected portion of the stem. This brings out the insects and kills them. To prevent diseases and insects in mango crop, it is advised to grow coriander, mint, ginger and turmeric in the mango orchards (Anonymous, 1998). The concoction obtained from makabuhay (Tinospora rumphii), turmeric, chilli and onions is used as a pesticide in paddy field (Lumdang, 1999). Turmeric is an ingredient in the preparation of 'masala bolus' for use in horticultural crops against pests (Singaravel, 2002).

Other Usage	The roots of turmeric plant are used for making dye (Ongmo, 1993). Plant dyes like saffron, turmeric and ratanjot have also been used as food and confectionery colorants (Noronha, 1996).

Synonyms	Curcuma domestica Val.

Family	Zingiberaceae

Description	Turmeric is a perennial plant 60 to 90cm in height with a short stem and tufts of erect leaves.The rhizomes are cylindrical, ovoid, orange colored and branched. The under ground stem produces lanceolate, long, smooth, uniform green leaves. The leaves are simple, very large with petiole as long as the blade, oblong lanceolate, tapering to the base upto 45cm long. The flowers are pale yellow in spikes concealed by the sheathing petioles (Kirtikar & Basu, 1935).

Common Name in India	Haldi (Bengali); Haldi, Halda (Marathi, Hindi); Haladar (Gujarati); Paccamannal, Mannal, Varattumannal (Malayalam); Pasupa (Telugu) (WOA, 1998).

Common Name in Other Countries	Curcuma long, Terre-merite (French); Celbwurzel, Lange kurkuma (Deutsch); Curcuma lunga, Zedouria lunga (Italian); Kurkum (Arabian); Hsanwen (Burma); Banley, Ponly, Romiet (Cambodia); Gelbwurzel (Germon); Acafrao da India (Portuguese)

Habitat	It is cultivated throughout the warmer parts of the world (WOA, 1998).

Rainfall	In tracts of heavy rainfall, as in the west coast, it is grown as a rainfed crop (WOA, 1998).

Soil (Physical/Chemical)	Well drained, thrives on any soil loamy or alluvial, but it should be loose and friable. Gradually clayed and stony soils are unsuitable for the development of rhizomes (WOA, 1998).

Regional Distribution	For the most part of world (80%) production comes from India particularly from the states located on the Bay of Bengal, Andra pradesh, Tamilnadu, Orissa and others (WOA, 1998).

Global Distribution	It is also cultivated in tropical Asia and Africa especially in India, West Pakistan, China and Malaya, Srilanka etc.

Harvest	The rhizomes are harvested after the aerial parts dry out, freed of roots, cooked in water with at on point carbonated, dried in sun or to speed up the process in driers then polished mechanically to eliminate root residues, scales and superficial layers.

Pests / Diseases	Turmeric is subject to leaf spot and rhizome rot diseases. Leaf spot is caused by Taptirina maculans butter. Yellow spots appear on leaves and the leaves dry up. Spraying with Bordeaux mixture or by any one of the metallic fungicides is suggested as a remedy. Among the insect, pests, shoot boring caterpillar (Dochocrosis punctiferalis Gd.) affects turmeric crop. It bores into and cuts the central shoot as a result of the plant dries up. Removal of affected shoot in the initial stages of attack and destruction of larvae are the only practicable control methods.

Chemical composition	Aqueous extract (80mg/kg) completely suppressed carrageenin- induced oedema; at 40 mg/kg activity was comparable to that of indomethacin (5 mg/kg). It also showed very potent activity in granuloma pouch test. Campesterol, stigmasterol, beta-sitosterol, cholesterol and fatty acid isolated from rhizomes; fatty acids comprised of saturated straight chain, saturated iso, monoenoic and dienoic acids (Rastogi & Mehrotra, 1993).

Herbarium No	1

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