Vol. 11, Issue 8 (2022)

Author(s):
D Thangamani, S Poopathi Rajan, J Karunamoorthi and S Lalitha

Abstract:
The dependency of many Indian rural households on natural resources for sustenance is widely acknowledged. Thus natural resources are good for the economy and they provide many resources, such as food and income to a community. There is a link between trees, green spaces and climate change, income and mortality in dry villages. Under the difficult climatic situations, farmers are forced to adopt tree-based systems to secure their income and livelihood. Natural resources are provides to humans food, fresh water and timber products. Madhuca longifolia (belongs to Sapotaceae) is one the crucial natural resources in forest and urban areas; it’s commonly called as Mahua. Flowers and fruits are used as food and also in preparation of value added products such as Laddu, jam, pickle and selling in local market which were made out of mahua flowers for sustaining their livelihood; thus have rich source of sugar, protein, vitamin and minerals. From the seed, oil is prepared for cooking and lighting purposes, biodiesel, laundry soaps, and detergents and also used in medicinal field. Biodiesel is a renewable, biodegradable and non-toxic fuel. Thus seed oil contains sapogenins, triterpenoids, steroids, saponins, flavonoids and glycosides. Apart from these, in Hinduism and many other faiths lightings lamps and light in prayers symbolizers the absence of darkness, grief and sorrows. Using the Mahua seed oil there is a belief that vibration which emerges from the lamp will work as a 3 dimentional vastu protector, positive energy enhancer and bestower of peace and prosperity in home as well as in all Temples it was mentioned and currently in use by many literatures. Survey was carried out in different districts of Tamilnadu such as Coimbatore, Salem, Tirupur, Thiruvannamalai, Dharmupuri and Madurai. From our collection and vegetative propagation, afforestation programme was carried out in Eastern Ghats village areas, we planted high yielding mass propagated clones; through vegetative propagation, grafting and seedlings. High flower/fruit yielding trees were selected based on the number of flowers production in a branch, weight, length of flowers, fruits. The stem cuttings were collected from those selected trees and propagated in the nursery. This will give benefit to dry area dwelling farmers for sustainable harvest, value-addition and marketing.