Bamboo can be said as the Green Gold to Indian Farmers as it provides vast varieties of benefits to them. It has wide economic and cultural values. It is a close friend of nature as it provides shelter to immense range of biodiversity. It releases oxygen three times more than any other plant. Not alone its stem, its leaves too are full of medicinal values.
According to a scientist from Aligarh Muslim University, bamboo can reduce carbon monoxide, benzene and chloroform and can release plenty of oxygen. According to Dr. N. Chowdhary of Malkhan Singh District Hospital bamboo can be used to prepare pickle, Kwath, Vinegar, and health booster medicines. Medicines made from bamboo are useful in heart diseases, asthma, mental sickness and respiratory tract infection.
An Economic Support
Bamboo is a great economic support to farmers.
- It is used for making furniture and decorative items
- It is used in making balli, sidhi, tokri, cot, mat and hand fan etc.
- It is also used in making earthquake resistant houses, huts, and temporary bridges etc.
- It is used in making musical instruments like flute etc. paper and violin.
- It is used in making agarbattis, pensils, matches, tooth pricks, chopsticks etc.
Propagation
In Northern India it is propagated through seeds and root cuttings. The lowermost part of the stem is planted by cutting three inches from the base. New roots too develop into new plants. Bamboo is planted at a distance of three meters. Thus other crops can also be grown between two rows for some years.
Medicinal Properties
- Active components can be found in the bamboo extract
- Its extract provides flavanoids, phenolic acid, Inner Easters, polysaccharides, amino acids, peptides, manganese and zinc
- Apical buds are used in making Kwath to relieve asthma
- The extract reduces diabetes
- New sprouts of bamboo are used in making medicines of Blood Pressure and cholesterol
Important Features
- Bamboo has more than 136 species
- Bamboo can be grown within 3 to 4 years
- Bamboo can grow up to 15 to 30 meters
- Thickness of Bamboo ranges from 15 to 18 cm
- Profit from one acre of bamboo remains 25 to 30 thousand
- Bamboos can live up to 50 years
Bamboo is such a plant which requires neither much water nor much sun light. In older days it was grown on demarcation lines of fields, near cattle sheds and in useless lands. But now bamboo is being cultivated. It is a fast growing plant. Though one can plant it in any season but start of monsoon is considered best for its transplantation.
bamboo, green gold, economic support
