Kewda: Cultivation and Perfume Production

Among the aromatic plants, Kewda (Pandanusfascicularis Lam.) occupied a distinct place due to its highly fragrant male spadices used for production of high valued Kewda perfumes like attar, water and oil (roohKewda), which earn a huge amount of foreign exchange for the country. The present book on Kewda: cultivation and perfume production serves as a relevant document for use among the researchers, teachers, students, farmers, traders and perfumers including entrepreneurs interested in its cultivation and production of perfumes for marketing and trade practices.

This book contains 15 chapters covering crop production, crop improvement, crop protection, flower production, economics of cultivation, method of production and marketing of perfumes including botany, nomenclature, origin, distribution and systematics of varieties in Kewda and its economic uses for development of rural economy with generation of man-days in operation of the Kewda distilleries and transport of the perfumes.

The book is written in a simplified way for well understanding and to make it very useful for the scientists, professionals and farmers engaged in research and developmental activities of Kewda cultivation and perfume production with marketing of the highly prized Kewda products for a sustainable growth of the industry in the interests of the farmers and traders.

Dr. P. N. Jagadev, presently working as Professor, Depart- ment of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar has obtained his B. Sc.(Ag.) and M. Sc. (Ag.) degrees from OUAT, Bhubaneswar, Ph. D. degree from GBPUAT, Pantnagar and Post-Doc. Training from DDPSC, Washington University, St. Louis, USA. He also served as the Dean of Research, Dean of Extension Education, Professor and Head, Depart- ment of Bioinformatics of OUAT, Bhubaneswar, Odisha,. He has research areas of specialization in plant stress breeding, biotechnology and bioinformatics with more than 33 years of distinguished career on teaching, re- search and extension. He travelled many countries like USA, Australia, South Korea, Hong Kong, Thailand and Kenya on different R&D assignments. He has guided 55 students of P.G., Ph.D. and PDF levels. To his credit, he has 258 publications (research papers-86, conference/ symposium papers-40, books/manu- als-33, book chapters-9, technical booklets-25 and popular scientific articles-65). He is a Fellow of Indian Society of Genetics and Plant Breeding. He has also developed seven crop varieties on rice, sugarcane, maize, cotton, jute and mesta for the farmers of Odisha and other states. He has the distinction of receiving several awards like Krutti Krushi Vaigyanik Samman and Best Agricultural Scien- tist Award from the Government of Odisha, Krushi Ratna Award from Krushak Sambad and Best Director Award from Education Expo, TV, Mumbai.

Dr. Sashikala Beura, presently working as the Professor and Head, Department of Floriculture and Landscaping and as Director, Biotechnology-cum-Tissue Culture Centre, Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar, has obtained her M.Sc. (Ag.) degree in Horticulture from OUAT, Bhubaneswar with University Gold Medal and Ph.D. degree from GBPUAT, Pantnagar with CSIR Senior Research Fellowship. She has research areas of specialization in Floriculture, Landscaping, Biotechnology and Bioinformatics with more than 28 years of distinguished career on teaching, research and extension. She travelled many countries like Australia, Thailand and Iran on different R&D assignments. She has guided 33 PG and 3 Ph.D. students. To her credit, she has 255 publications (research papers-79, conference/symposium papers-78, books/manuals-8, book chapters-9, technical booklets-15 and popular scientific articles-66). She has the distinction of receiving several awards like Alaka Manjari Rath Best Woman Scientist Award from the Governor of Odisha, Best Faculty Award from Education Expo TV, Kolkata and two best paper awards. She has also developed a cashewnut hybrid 'Jagannath' and introduced the protected cultivation of gerbera, lilium and anthurium for the farmers of Odisha.

Dr. Trinath Maharana, former Professor and Head, Department of Horticulture, Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar and Emeritus Professor, ICAR has obtained his M. Sc. (Ag.) and Ph.D. degrees from OUAT, Bhubaneswar. He also served as the Associate Director of Research (Seeds), Directorate of Research, OUAT, Bhubaneswar. He is an expert of tribal horticulture and tuber crops and well known for his excellence in academics and research ideas with more than 35 years of distinguished career on teaching, research and extension. He was also the pioneer to start research on floriculture and tuber crops in OUAT about five decades back. He worked as the Principal Investigator of several adhoc projects on kewda, minor cucurbits, medicinal and aromatic plants etc. He also guided 50 students of M. Sc. (Ag.) and Ph. D. levels and published more than 75 research papers in journals of national/ international repute. Besides, he has authored a number of text books in Odia and served as QRT member (ICAR) of palms, cashewnut and betelvine. He was also the Secretary of the Odisha Horticultural Society and Association of Agricultural Scientist, Bhubaneswar and presently, he is the President of Odisha Horticultural Society.