Research institutions seeks to put scented orchids of Sikkim in world map

Ingenious project underway to develop production protocols and extraction of essential oils from scented orchids

GANGTOK, September 14: Taking Sikkim’s rich assets of orchids to uncharted frontier, two leading institutes here are jointly working on a research for commercial exploitation on scented orchid species of the Himalayan State which is widely accepted as the Land of Orchids.

With Sikkim Himalaya region harbouring around 450 species of orchids and being the place of origin for around one third of the reported species of orchids and given the fact that orchid cultivation here is more than a hundred years old tradition, the State is also known as the Land of Orchids.

Till now, the commercial use of orchid species like Cymbidium orchids here had revolved around for ornamental purposes but should a joint project ‘A value chain on selected aromatic plants of Northeast India’ undertaken by National Research Centre for Orchids (NRC) based at Pakyong and College of Agricultural Engineering and Post Harvest Technology which comes under Central Agriculture University based at Ranipool in East Sikkim, a lot of attraction is expected to be generated on scented varieties of orchids found in Sikkim.

According to NRC, there are around 70 species of orchids in Sikkim which produce aroma.

“We are working on one aspect in the project. Our role is to conduct research and develop planting materials through tissue culture. We have to first develop production protocols and methods for a large scale of cultivation of scented orchids”, said NRC director Dr RP Medhi. He added that many people are familiar with orchids only as cut flowers.

The people are little aware about the scent of orchids and orchid fragrance ranges from lemon, jasmine, hyacinth, orange, chocolate, coconut, vanilla and menthe, said the NRC director.

The NRC is presently working on five scented species of orchids found in Sikkim-Aerides odoratum, Dendrobium crysotoxum, Coelogyne cristata, C. flacida and Zygopatalum intermedium. The NRC at Pakyong had been established in 1996 and comes under Indian Centre for Agriculture Research (ICAR).

In response to a query, the NRC director said that no information about any research conducted on scented orchids in part of the world is available so far which means the project in Sikkim is the first in the world.

“World demand for aromatic plants and their products are increasing, future prospects in India lie on focusing on value added products, consistent drive and quality and ensuring competition through enhance productivity. The aromatic orchids need to be brought under large scale cultivation to maintain their continuous supply and the small and marginal farmers in Sikkim needs to be encouraged to grow aromatic orchids”, said Dr Medhi. He added that the project on scented orchids being a totally new concept, the quantity of fragrant essence which can be extracted as well as the market value of the same has still to be worked out.

However, the very fact that a scent of orchids is on sale, itself is going to attract lots of attention in the aromatic market, Dr Medhi said.
On the other hand, the College of Agricultural Engineering & Post Harvest Technology dean, Prof PK Srivastava said that the role of his institute is to provide engineering support on how to harvest and extract essential oils from the orchid species.

“We have already set up a pilot extraction plant at the institute for extracting essential oils from scented orchid species and other aromatic plants that can be cultivated in Sikkim. Even after extraction of essential oils from the orchids, some fragrance will be left on the plants which we are planning to use for making incense sticks”, said Prof Srivastava. He said that his institute will also be providing training and marketing linkages to the farmers who take up cultivation of scented orchid species in future.

“Once the farmers take up cultivation of scented orchid species, we will allow the farmers to use our extraction plant. We can also develop a portable extraction plant for farmer self help groups”, said the dean. He added that an extraction plant cost starts from Rs. 1.5 lakhs.
Regarding the market potential of scented orchids, the dean said that it is difficult to say as such work on scented orchids is being done for the first time. However, he added that the products from scented orchids will definitely have a high value in the markets.

source;sikkim express