Kalmegh & Shatawar (Andrographis paniculata Nees.) : Medicinal Plants for Successful Agroforestry

Kalmegh (Andrographis paniculata Nees.) and Shatawar (Asparagus racemosus Willid,) are two important and common medicinal plant which are suitable for different agromediculture system. Kalmegh belonging to the family Acanthaceae is one of the nineteen species of the genus Andrographis, which is indigenous to India and has been used in Indian system of medicine since time immemorial. The fresh and dried leaves of Kalmegh and juice extracted from the herb are official drugs in Indian Pharmacopoeia. It grows wild as an under shrub in tropical, moist, deciduous forests. The plant is found in the plains throughout India and Sri Lanka. In India, it is distributed in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal. Kalmegh is an annual herbaceous or shrubby decumbent or erect plant, 0.3-1.0 meter high. The branches are sharply quadrangular, often narrowly winged towards the apical region. The flowers are small in solitary panicles with rose coloured corolla, which is hairy externally. The seeds are numerous, yellowish-brown and glabrous. Kalmegh is a hardy plant and can be grown on variety of soils. However sandy loam soil rich in organic matter is good for its growth and yield. Under natural conditions, this crop is found growing abundantly in moist, shady places and sometimes dry forests also. It can be easily propagated either by seeds or cuttings. Seeds start germinating in about 8-10 days and transplanted into main field when they are 45-50 days old. The crop is ready for harvest after about 90-120 days of sowing, when the plants start flowering. At this stage, they are harvested by cutting the plants at the base, leaving 10-15 centimeter of the stem for regeneration. Totally 2-3 harvests can be made in a year. The average yield is 2-2.5 tonnes per hectare of dry herb. Shatavari or shatawar (Asparagus racemosus Willid,) belonging to family liliaceae is a woody climber. It is found throughout India, in areas upto 1400 meter elevation and also common in shade and tropical climate, leaves are reduced to cladodes, which are curved terete, spreading in tufts of 2-6. Flowers are in racemes and whitish to creamish in colour. Fruit is berry, which is globose and usually red when ripe. Seeds are 2-6 and black in colour, it generally flowers during July – December. Shatavari can be easily propagated by seeds and division of roots. It can be grown on variety of soil but it prefers sandy well drained soil. Seedlings should be planted preferably on ridges with a spacing of 30x30 cm. Harvesting of roots can be done from 24 to 51 months after date of planting. The roots are sweet, bitter, cooling, emollient, nervine tonic, constipating, ophthalmic, anodyne, galactagogue, aphrodisiac, diuretic, rejuvenating, antispasmodic and tonic. They are used in nervous disorders, inflammations, vitiated conditions of vata and pitta and general debility etc. The drug is one amongst the ten foetus promoting drugs as described in Charakasamhita. The drug has been placed amongst Varundigana in Astanghradaya. These drugs alleviate, kapha, obesity, dyspepsia, stiffness of legs, headache, abdominal tumor and abscess.