JOJOBA – A PROMISING PLANT FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

PK MISHRA
Department of Botany, Vinoba Bhave University, Hazaribag-825319
Jharkhand

Introduction

Plants have been a source of food, medicine and Industrial raw material since time immemorial. India has been fortunate enough to have good biodiversity and diverse climatic condition. Scientists have always tried to increase productivity of plant based resources but ever increasing population is the major bottleneck in this direction. It is therefore necessary not only to increase productivity but to find out new avenue of natural resources. Plant scientists have felt that people now a day are converging towards very small number of species as natural resource. This on one hand leads to over exploitation of some selected plants and under exploitation of other. Both the situations are not desirable.

Jojoba is such one under exploited plant which needs proper attention both by scientists as well as by farmers. Jojoba (pronounced as Ho-Ho-Ba) is a native plant of South Africa and its botanical name is Simmondsia chinensis. Jojoba is a bisexual plant and flowers grow in clusters. The female flowers develop in winter season especially in months of December and January. It takes nearly four and half months for seeds to mature. The seeds are elongated, slightly spherical and pointed at the top. The seeds contained 45 to 55 percent essential oil. Average oil contained is about 50 percent. The oil contained of the seeds therefore is more than most of the oil seeds. The oil obtained from Jojoba seeds are variously used for different purposes. They are used as cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, lubricant, food, insulator in electrical equipments, heating oil, fire retarder, raw material of plastics and transformer oil. It is important to note that chemical composition of Jojoba oil is very much similar to cod liver oil. The later are used as tonic. In present situation killing Shark for cod liver oil is strictly prohibited because there population is decreasing fast. Jojoba oil is a good alternative of cod liver oil and can be used as its substitute.

Plant Description

Jojoba is native to the semi-arid regions of south Arizona, California and Mexico, and is pronounced by the local people as Ho-Ho-Ba. The plant is a perennial shrub having woody stems. Jojoba is a relatively new entrant in the botanical world, although the aboriginal people of California used to cultivate and utilize its various products since long back. There is a popular story that once an unknown visitor asked the name of the oil a native North American was rubbing on his body, what the North American said sounded something like “Jojoba”, which was repeated and disseminated by the visitor.

Thus the plant assumed its popular name of “Jojoba”. The binomial nomenclature of this plant, is Simmondsia chinensis, was however resulting in error. Link, a botanist from U.K., was on a round- the- world trip to collect seeds and plants for the purpose of making a catalogue. He was scanning a bagful of seeds collected from china. By mistake, some seeds of Jojoba got mixed; hence he coined the specific name “chinensis”, though the plant is not found in china.

The Jojoba plant is a shrub or medium size tree which grows to a height of 2.5 meters to 3.0 meters. The stem has perfused branches which have a large number of leaves. Leaves are opposite decussate, a typical characteristic of xeric plants. Leaves are oval to lanceo late in shape and deep green in colour. The surface of a Jojoba leaf has a thick coat of waxy substance which reduces the rate of transpiration, thereby checking the loss of moisture. The root system is a well – developed taproot, which grows downwards to a depth of 15 meters and sometimes even more. The well –developed root system helps the plant to absorb water and minerals from deep down the earth. The fruit of the Jojoba plant is green is colour and is capsule in nature. Each fruit possess three seeds which are brown is colour, having wrinkled texture. Usually the plants start bearing fruits from the fourth year of its growth.

Jojoba products

The oil obtained from the Jojoba seed is different from the typical oil; in fact, it resembles an ester. Normally, vegetable oil has many alcohol groups and the molecule is usually forked. Ester, on the other hand, has only one alcohol, and the molecule is a straight chain. While conventional oil gets oxidized easily, esters work as antioxidants. Chemically, the Jojoba ester is almost identical to the spermaceti oil obtained from the head of a rather rare animal – the sperm whale. The product can be used as a lubricant, in cosmetic products, and in automobiles. The Jojoba ester also has a striking similarity with the oil secreted by the human skin. Hence, this ester can also be used for lubricating the skin and the hair.

Nutrients in Jojoba oil

The Jojoba oil contains approximately 65 percent poly unsaturated liquid wax. The product is also known for natural Vitamin E content. Vitamin E is well known antioxidant and is taken orally as anti aging agent. The oil is also applied on skin because it calms irritation. Jojoba oil is also a rich source of Vitamin B. Vitamin B has got property of retaining moisture. So when applied on skin, It protect its moisture. Accumulation of melanin pigment in skin is also retarded by application of Jojoba oil. Hence, it is used as skin protector from sun burn.

Vitamin E content is very light in Jojoba oil and its self life is also very long. Hence, chances of its decaying and losing its beneficial property during course of time are very low.

Exposure of skin to ultraviolet radiation present in sun light often leads to skin damage and development of wrinkles. Application of Jojoba oil delays wrinkling of skin because it contains a highly useful chemical ferulic acid. Ferulic acid absorbs ultraviolet rays and prevents oxidation damage of skin. In addition to Vitamins, Jojoba oil also contains some important minerals like silicon, chromium, zinc, copper etc. Reasonable amount of iodine has also been reported in Jojoba oil. Iodine is helpful in combating bacterial and fungal infection. Copper helps to keep the skin firm. Silicon keeps hair follicles smooth and strong. Jojoba oil is very much similar to natural oil produce by human skin. Hence, its use as skin care agent is natural. Tocopherol presence in Jojoba oil act as preservative.

Cultivation of Jojoba

Jojoba is a very hardy plant and it can sustain in extreme climatic condition. On one hand it can withstand as high as 50 centigrade temperature where as on the other hand it can easily tolerate low temperature of -50 centigrade. In that sense this plant can easily cultivated in waste land of our country. Area having 200 to 400 millimeter rainfall is suitable for Jojoba cultivation. For large scale commercial production rainfall of 500 to 600 millimeter is found to be most suitable. Water logging however is highly unfavorable for this plant. So the area prone to water logging is not favorable for mass scale cultivation of Jojoba. Sandy soil and Rocky areas are suitable for this plant. In that sense arid and semi arid regions like Gujarat and Rajasthan are highly suitable for large scale cultivation of Jojoba. pH of soil is an important factor for development of any plan. Jojoba however grows luxuriantly between pH range 5 to 8. The suitable requirement for Jojoba cultivation make it clear that this is a low demanding plant and the cost Incurred for Jojoba plantation is low as compare to the possible income from the of oil seed.

Germination however is a bottleneck and to remove it the seeds are not sown directly in the field. The seeds are first raised in the nursery and are later on transferred into the field. March and October are two important months during which Jojoba nursery can be grown. Normally 100 to 120 days old germ lings are Ideal for transplantation in field.

Polythine bags of 30x10 cm. since and of 300 gauge thickness are utilized for developing Jojoba seedlings. 10 to 12 holes are punctured in the lower half of polythine. So that extra water percolates out of the bag. The polythine bag is filled with sand and manure is 3:1 ratio. Attack of termites is a common problem and to check it 4 percent Indosulfan is mixed with feelings. Fresh and healthy seeds are sown in the bag. It is important to select the fresh seeds because its germination capacity is almost 90 percent. As the age advance, percentage of germination decreases. So using fresh seeds gives better result. Normally the seeds start germination after 10 days. Complete germination has been observed within 20 to 25 days. Atmospheric temperature however plays an important role in germination of Jojoba seeds. Low temperature often lower percent of seed germination. The seedlings grow at 30 to 35 C.M. heights after 6 months