Palmyrah Palm Research Articles

Palmyrah (Borassus flabellifer L) Tuber in India: Present Status and Scope

Palmyrah palm, is also an important multipurpose tree having great utility of each part of it have economic value right from fruit to root and hence the palm is equated to the “Kalpa Vriksha” in the Indian mythology meaning the tree that gives everything for life. The Palmyra palm can be found in Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, and Bihar. The palms in South India are seldom used to the full potential, but the natural regeneration through seeds increases the number of palms in the territory. Very few growers use the young fruits although the delicacy is known to the people. The ripe fruits are not used either for juice or for tuber production, whereas, the tubers are sold in the markets for fresh consumption. Palmyrah tuber flour is used as raw material for various products of starch in food industries and bakery and confectionary items.

Nest construction and repairing habits of Baya Weaver Ploceus philippinus (Aves: Passeriformes: Ploceidae) in the agricultural landscape of Villupuram District, Tamil Nadu, India

The intricate nesting habits of Baya Weaver Ploceus philippinus were studied on two Palmyrah Palm Borassus flabellifer trees in Chendur village, Villupuram district, Tamil Nadu between 20 March and 30 November 2020. Observations concentrated on sources of fibers, developmental stages of nests, re-construction & repairing of nests, deposition of clay in the nest walls, and various threats. A total of 98 nests of various developmental stages (wad stage—4, helmet stage—31, egg-chamber closed stage—5, and complete nests—58) were studied on these two nest colonies. The birds used leaf fibers of Indian date Palm Phoenix sylvestris and Sugarcane Saccharum officinarum as nest materials, and took 6–48 days for construction of a complete nest. 95% of helmet stage nests (n = 126) contained clay deposits. Analysis of plastered clay revealed it was alkaline with pH 9, and dry weight ranged from 5.1–5.8 g. Males re-constructed new nests from the remnant stalks attached to tips of palm fronds, and also made repairs on damaged nests. Anthropogenic factors, wind, rain, and avian predators, such as House Crow Corvus splendens, Long-billed Crow Corvus macrorhynchos, Rufous Treepie Dendocitta vagabunda, and Shikra Accipeter badius posed threats to Baya Weavers. A total of 42 nests, 11 broken eggs, and 14 dead chicks were found fallen under the two supporting trees. The detailed systematic survey covering entire district, rapid urbanization, and the anthropogenic pressures will help in nest drafting an action plan to conserve local populations of Baya Weaver.

Development of a User-friendly Tool for Pulp Separation from Palmyrah Palm Fruit

The study was conducted to develop a user-friendly tool for the separation of pulp from toddy palm fruit under the Department of Processing and Food Engineering, KCAET Tavanur during 2019–20. Manual separation of pulp using traditional method is very time consuming, tedious, labour intensive and cause drudgery to the operator. Hence, a skilled person can only separate the pulp from palm fruit perfectly. Therefore, a simple hand operated tool for separating pulp effectively which is easy to operate, portable, gender friendly and economical was designed and fabricated. Based on engineering properties, a cutting tool and U-shaped cutting blade were developed. The palm was removed from the bunch and crown was removed using a knife. Then the fruit was placed horizontally on “M” shaped holding unit. Using the cutting knife, the bottom portion of palm was cut up to 5cm thickness and top portion up to 2.5 cm. Then the fruit was placed vertically on the rectangular platform and the “U” shaped blade was inserted into the fruit on the outer periphery. Blade is then pushed side ways to remove the husk of the palm fruit. The performance evaluation of the developed tool was conducted. The performance evaluation of the developed tool was done in terms of capacity and material loss. The average capacity of the tool was found to be 9.01 kg h-1 which accounts pulp of 45–50 fruits h-1. The material loss during the operation was estimated to be 2.4%.

Optimization study of palm jaggery and palm candy - production and process

An effort was made to study and optimize the processes involved in producing palmyrah palm jaggery and candy by tapping into the inflorescence of the palm tree using lime-laced collection pots and neera (containing palm sap, cane sugar, and water), respectively. In the case of palm candy, lime was added during the boiling process. The process parameters, namely, lime concentration, temperature, and heating time, were investigated based on the samples' sensory qualities (9-point hedonic scale). The optimized solid palm jaggery required 2% lime, a processing temperature of 120 °C, and a processing time of 170 min. Similarly, upon carrying out identical analysis for palm candy, it was determined that the best combination suited for its preparation was using 0.4% lime, a processing temperature of 110 °C, and 150 min. The relationship between the three variables and the final product's sensory appeal was also investigated.The change in the mineral and total phenolic content of the samples with changes in the lime concentration, temperature, and heating time was also analyzed. The mineral and total phenolic content decreased progressively with increasing temperature and heating time. The palm jaggery produced after optimization has an energy value of 351.68 Kcal/100 g of sample. It has calcium, potassium, and magnesium content of 978.1 mg, 0.994 mg, and 0.078 mg per 100 g sample. The palm jaggery and palm candy were found to comply with the FSSAI standards.

Physicochemical characteristics of Palmyrah bottled toddy and their effect on storage

In the northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka, the cloudy whitish toddy is obtained by tapping young or matured inflorescence of both female and male palmyrah palm (Borassus flabellifer), preserved them by using pasteurization techniques and then sold. In the present study, the effect of heat and storage period on the physicochemical characteristics as well as nutritional and mineral content of fresh and preserved toddy were determined. Preserved toddy showed a significantly (P<0.05) higher alcohol (%) 3.80(±0.07), acidity (%) 0.60(±0.07), turbidity (NTU) 2,694.50 (±0.07), relative density 1.01 (±0.07) and total solid (g/L) 58.22 (±0.07) while the total soluble solids (obrix) 5.93(±0.07) and pH 3.43 (±0.07) showed significantly lesser values compared to the fresh toddy. However, there was no significant (P>0.05) difference in protein 1.42(±0.01) g, fat 0.02(±0.00) g, iron 11.9(±0.3) mg, phosphorus 0.64(±0.04) mg, calcium 13.5(±0.5) mg and magnesium 5.3(±0.5) mg/100 mL. During pasteurization, total sugar and ascorbic acid content were significantly (P<0.05) decreased from 3.04(±0.06) to 2.80(±0.01) g/100 mL and 3.0(±0.01) to 2.1(±0.01), respectively. When pasteurized toddy was stored at room temperature, there were no significant differences between the storage period of twelve months in alcohol 2.9(±0.60), acidity 0.5(±0.10), TSS 7.9(±0.6), pH 3.6(±0.01) and TS 69.4(±9.3). In conclusion, the physicochemical characteristics of palmyrah bottled toddy were not influenced by the pasteurization process and period of storage of twelve months.

Palmyrah palm and its products (Neera, Jaggery and Candy)—A Review on chemistry and technology

The worldwide food sweetener market is projected to be valued at more than 100 billion dollars by the end of this decade, with the Asia-south Pacific region witnessing the highest market share growth. However, with increased awareness about the health hazards associated with the regular consumption of artificial sweeteners and ultra-processed cane sugar, the demand for natural, minimally processed, organic alternatives has also witnessed a surge. Palm jaggery is one such product. Made from the sap of the Palmyrah palm tree, this jaggery is believed to be a suitable alternative to sugar in all forms of food. This review provides a comprehensive look at all the advances made in the production and characterization of palm jaggery and its allied products. The review highlights the research carried out to understand the health benefits associated with consuming palm jaggery and palm candy.

Lethal yellowing disease in <em>Borassus flabellifer</em> in Jaffna peninsula

Palmyrah palm (<em>Borassus flabellifer </em>Linn.) is a highly versatile tree mainly distributed in the North and Eastern provinces of Sri Lanka. Even though the plant is rarely affected by pathogens due to its extremely woody nature, some significant abnormalities in plants growing in the Pungudutivu area in Jaffna Peninsula have been noted recently. The present study aimed to characterize the abnormality, identify the disease and confirm the possible causative agent. In this study, the progression and incidence of disease were determined through field visits. A literature search was conducted to compare the symptoms with other palm varieties. Additionally, the possibilities for phytoplasma infection were tested with phytoplasma-specific universal primers using PCR. Initially, the plants showed progressive leaf yellowing and drying from the leaf tip towards the petiole followed by collapsed spear leaf hanging downward in the crown. Finally, the crown falls off the trunk. The symptoms are characteristics of the lethal yellowing disease. The PCR result confirmed the association of phytoplasma with the diseased plants. To our knowledge, this is the first report from Sri Lanka regarding the lethal yellowing disease in Palmyrah palm. Since the disease severely affects the plant and spreads rapidly, there is an urgent need to study the epidemiology of the disease and to find out suitable control measures.

Antioxidant activity and physicochemical analysis of coconut, kithul and palmyrah palm treacle

Treacle from the palm trees of coconut, palmyra, and kithul exhibits antioxidant and medicinal properties as mentioned in Sri Lankan ethnomedicine however the research regarding the nutritional, physicochemical, sensory, and functional properties of palmyrah treacle are limited and the treacle remains underutilized compared to coconut and kithul treacle. The purpose of this study is to compare the antioxidant activity and physicochemical properties of coconut, kithul, and palmyra treacle and to provide comparative facts for the betterment of the palm treacle industry. Pooled sap samples of coconut, kithul, and palmyra were collected from respective collecting center and the treacle was prepared and kept in refrigerators for further analysis. Physicochemical properties, antioxidant activity, microbial quality, and sensory analysis were performed using triplicates from each sample. Significantly highest (<em>p</em>&lt;0.05) total sugar (67.90%) and ash content [0.075(±0.002)] %was obtained for palmyrah treacle, while protein content was significantly highest for kithul [0.570 (±0.0120)] than coconut [0.410 (±0.0040)] and palmyrah [0.028 (±0.0070)] %. Total phenolic content was significantly highest for coconut [278.02 (±1.35)] while there were no significant differences between palmyrah [191.02(±4.80)] and kithul [190.23 (±2.71)] mg GAE/100g. DPPH's scavenging ability with the IC values of palmyrah, coconut, and kithul were 1.69 (±0.13), 2.91 (±0.04), and 2.21(±0.14) mg/mL respectively. This study could be useful to disseminate knowledge and create awareness among people on different treacle varieties and their antioxidant properties. This finding will uplift the utilization of palm treacle or the in-cooperation of palm treacle in other food products such as sweeteners.

Formulation and Senso-chemical Evaluation of Palmyrah Palm (Borassus flabellifer L.) Based Value-added Products

Palmyrah palm (Borassus flabellifer L.), a member of the Arecaceae family, is a tree with a variety of uses, including food, beverage, fiber, medicinal, and timber. Unfortunately, commercial applications for the nutritionally rich pulp of ripened palm are limited. The current study was conducted to develop a technology for the preparation of a value-added products from palm and to evaluate them in terms of chemical composition, sensory properties, and microbial quality during refrigerated storage. This study resulted in the creation of a palm toffee product with optimal levels of ingredients such as palm pulp, sugar, fat, cream, glucose, and skimmed milk powder. Three palm-based toffees were selected based on the analysis and they were compared with a control sample. The results of the physicochemical analysis revealed that fresh toffees had an average moisture content of 9.79%, ash content of 3.5-6.15%, fat content of 8.20-29.70g, titrable acidity of 0.27-0.49%, total sugars of 78.26-79.66%, reducing sugar of 46.12-49.90%, and ascorbic acid content of 5.330-3.553 mg/100g, &amp;szlig;&amp;ndash;Carotene of 20-133 mg/100g. Na, Mg, K, Ca, Zn, and Fe were identified as abundant minerals in prepared toffees. On a 9-point hedonic scale, the mean color, taste, flavor, texture and overall acceptability score for selected three toffees were 6.9-7.8, 6.6-8.4, 7.0-8.1, 7.1-8.0, and 7.2-8.4, respectively. According to the storage study, reducing sugars and total sugars increased with the increase in storage period, while moisture content, ascorbic acid, and total acidity decreased. The toffee is a contribution to the value-added food product development from a traditional fruit in Bangladesh.

Genetic resources of Asian palmyrah palm (Borassus flabelliferL.): a comprehensive review on diversity, characterization and utilization

AbstractAsian palmyrah palm (Borassus flabelliferL.) is a multipurpose, economically important tree widely distributed in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. The multifaceted uses (~800 uses) of the tree as food, wood and medicine make it a viable industrial crop. However, the dioecious nature of the tree coupled with long juvenile phase (12–20 years to initiate flowering), long stature and considerable variations in the productivity of male and female trees necessitates the application of new biotechnological tools for crop improvement. This review provides comprehensive information on the extent of genetic diversity of the crop, problems associated with palmyrah cultivation along with its multifaceted application and research gaps to be addressed for the effective utilization and conservation of palmyrah palm genetic resources.

Studies on bio-chemical attributes of different accessions of Palmyrah Palm fruit (Borassus flabellifer L) in Bhagalpur district of Bihar

The palmyrah palm (Borassus flabellifer L) is a minor tropical fruit which belongs to family Arecaceae. India stands first in the world in terms of its wealth of palmyrah palm with a population nearly 122 million palms. The fruits, fruit sap, young tuberous seedlings of palmyrah palm are used as food. Despite this indisputable utility, with the exception of coconut, arecanut, date and oil palm, somewhat less attention has been given to the improvement of palms as compared to other tree crops. An experiment was conducted at BAU, Sabour during the year 2016-2017 to study the biochemical properties of Palmyrah palm fruit collected from Bhagalpur district. The finding had shown that TSS differed significantly among the different accession of palmyrah fruit and highest TSS was recorded in AC-3 (15.96 oBrix). Maximum acidity was found in AC-3 i.e. 0.97% and minimum in AC-13. Results also revealed significant variation in Total sugar, reducing sugar and non reducing sugar among all the accession of palmyrah fruit. Result revealed that phenols and carotenoids have been found non significant in palmyrah fruit but fruit is good source of carotenoids.

Exploring the feasibility of bitterness reduction in palmyrah young shoot for its effective utilization

AbstractPalmyrah young shoot is an underutilized seasonal product of palmyrah palm. It has been reported to improve digestibility, prevent constipation, and maintain blood sugar level, as it is rich in fiber and starch. However, it contains some bitter compounds, which limits their acceptability of the products developed from them. Present study identified the components responsible for bitterness and the debittering process has been optimized. The optimum conditions for debittering included solvent ratio of 90 ml, extraction temperature at 65°C and 1 hr of processing time which led to significant decrease in the bitter compounds namely spirosterol and the flabelliferin‐ II (F‐II). Moreover, the optimized condition led to decrease in the total phenolic and saponin content from 320 to 131.651 mg/g and 2.04 to 0.106 mg/g, and simultaneously favored the yield of the fiber and starch from 4.1 to 11.889 g and 43.65 to 85.349 g, respectively. The debittered flour was incorporated into traditional Indian sweet (gulabjamun) which improved the protein content by 28.855%, and fiber content by 4.01% than commercial sample. The current study also increased the line scale of commercialization of the underutilized palmyrah young shoot as well as its scope for potential use as a fortificant or thickening agent.Practical applicationsPalmyarh young shoot is rich in fiber and recommended for diabetics, however the crop is under‐utilized due to its bitter taste. We have now optimized conditions for obtaining debittered flour. This debittered flour has high potential in food processing industry as a fortificant, as a thickening agent and as a good source of starch and fiber. Debittering could be pivotal to increase the utilization of Palmyarh young shoot flour in foods.

English

The study examined the effect of feeding albino rats with 25, 50, and 75% Palmyrah Palm (Borassus aethiopum) shoots with respect to their body weight, liver and kidney function indices. Standard methods of biochemical analyses were employed using albino rats as the experimental animals. No mortality was observed in the LD50 test throughout the period of 48 h.&nbsp; Rats fed with 25 and 50% B. aethiopum shoots showed a gradual increase in the body weight throughout the period of treatment, but those fed with 75% of the shoots experienced a significant (p&gt;0.05) decrease in body weight at the 3rd and 4th week of treatment compared to the control group. The results also showed changes in the serum total protein, albumin, globulin, glucose and bilirubin but were not significantly different (p&gt;0.05) compared to the control group. The serum enzymes activities that is aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) were significantly (p&gt;0.05) elevated compared to the control group which suggested toxicity induced by some of the phytocompounds present in the feed. Serum creatinine, urea, uric acid, and electrolytes (Na+, K+) of rats fed with 75% B. aethiopum shoots&nbsp; showed significant (p&gt;0.05) changes compared to the control group. The results showed that B. aethiopum shoots have a relatively low or no toxicity. Key words:&nbsp; Borassus aethiopum, shoots, albino rats, liver function, kidney function. &nbsp

Epidemiology and factors associated with amoebic liver abscess in northern Sri Lanka

BackgroundClinically diagnosed amoebic liver abscess (ALA) caused by Entamoeba histolytica has been an important public health problem in Jaffna district, northern Sri Lanka for last three decades. In order to draw up a control strategy for elimination of this condition, knowledge of its epidemiology and factors associated with this condition in the local context is vital.MethodsAll clinically diagnosed ALA patients admitted to the Teaching Hospital, Jaffna during the study period were included in the study and the data were collected using an interviewer administered questionnaire. One hundred blood samples from randomly selected toddy (a local alcoholic drink consisting of the fermented sap of the Palmyrah palm) consumers and 200 toddy samples were collected. Toddy samples were cultured in Robinson’s medium to establish the presence of Entamoeba histolytica in the sample. Climatic data and the total toddy sales in the district were obtained from the Meteorological and Excise Departments respectively. A sub group of randomly selected 100 patients were compared with 100 toddy consumers who were negative for E. histolytica antibody to explore the potential risk factors.ResultsBetween July 2012 and July 2015, 346 of 367 ALA patients were enrolled in this study. Almost all patients (98.6%) were males with a history of heavy consumption of alcohol (100%). Almost all (94.2%) were within the age group 31–50 years. None of the cultured toddy samples grew E. histolytica. The monthly incidence of disease peaked in the dry season, matching the total toddy sales in the district. Age, type of alcohol and frequency of drinking were identified as potential risk factors whereas frequency of alcohol consumption and type of alcohol (consuming toddy and arrack) were identified as the independent risk factors. Moreover, the knowledge, attitude and practices towards ALA were poor among participants and the control group.ConclusionsThough the number of cases has declined in recent years, ALA still remains as an important public health problem in Jaffna district. The transmission route of E. histolytica leading to ALA has to be further explored. Moreover, greater awareness among the public who are at risk would be beneficial in order to eliminate the disease.

Studies on suitability of existing climbing devices for palmyrah palm (Borassus flabellifer L.)

Studies on suitability of existing climbing devices for palmyrah palm (Borassus flabellifer L.)

Vale Added Food Products from Palmyrah Palm (Borassus Flabellifer L)

Vale Added Food Products from Palmyrah Palm (Borassus Flabellifer L)

Microsatellites mining in date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) and their cross transferability across Arecaceae family

Phoenix dactylifera L. (date palm) is the first publicly available nuclear genome sequence under Arecaceae family and indeed under the entire order Arecales. These genomic sequences were mined for microsatellites which could be used for marker assisted selection for important traits. We have developed an integrated, configurable and time effective microsatellite mining and annotation pipeline for this purpose. Microsatellite survey of date palm whole genome shotgun sequences using the developed pipeline detected a total of 166,760 perfect repeats with an average of one SSR per 2.2kb. Putative functions of these SSR-containing sequences within the proximity of genic regions were predicted. Primers targeting the functionally important SSR regions were designed and a set of eight SSR primers synthesized and were validated in vitro across five members of the Arecaceae family (coconut, arecanut, oilpalm, date palm and palmyrah palm). We have found that 28.6% of the SSRs are common among the members of arecaceae family. Those SSRs could be used in molecular marker analysis of less studied palm family members like arecanut and palmyrah palm.

Identification of Pure and Impure Palmyrah Palm Juice by Using Microwave Sensor System

Identification of Pure and Impure Palmyrah Palm Juice by Using Microwave Sensor System

Assessment of tsunami damage on the .coastal vegetation in five selected districts in the coastal zone of Sri Lanka, after one and half years of tsunami

Assessment of tsunami damage on the .coastal vegetation in five selected districts in the coastal zone of Sri Lanka, after one and half years of tsunami

Purification and kinetic characterization of polygalacturonase - 3 from palmyrah palm (Borassus flabellifer L)

Polygalacturonase-3 was isolated and purified to homogeneity from palmyrah palm (Borassus flabellifer L.) fruit using Con A-Sepharose affinity column. The purified enzyme migrated as a single band on native and SDS–polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The molecular mass of the purified enzyme was estimated to be 66 kDa by size elution chromatography. Optimum polygalacturonase activity as a function of pH and temperature was determined using polygalacturonic acid as substrate. Optimum pH and temperature values ranged between the pH 4.0–5.0 and temperature 30–40 °C. At the optimum pH and temperature, the Km and Vmax values were determined by Lineweaver–Burk method. The value Km (0.33 mM) reveals that polygalacturonase has significant reactivity towards polygalacturonic acid. The enzyme showed varied responses towards divalent and monovalent metal ions. Ca2+ activated the polygalacturonase-3 enzyme protein. Both teepol and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide inhibited polygalacturonase-3 activity by 44 %, while 2-mercaptoethanol stimulated the enzyme marginally.