Citronella is a grass belongs to family poaceace

1. DAYALBAGH EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE
ADDITIONAL ASSIGNMENT
TOPIC:- COMMERCIAL CULTIVATION OF
CITRONELLA
SUBMITTED TO
Dr. Akhilesh kumar
SUBMITTED BY
MANI UPADHYAY
2102977

2. COMMERCIAL CULTIVATION OF CITRONELLA
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Cymbopogon nardus(L .)
Rendle
 FAMILY : Poaceae
COMMON NAME: Citronella grass

3. HISTORY OF CITRONELLA
The first record to Ceylon type citronells was made by Nicholas Grimm at the end of 17th
century.
He named the plant Arundo indica odorata.
The Citronella oil is obtained from the two species of Cymbopogon i.e.
1. Cymbopogon winterianus Jowitt. (Java
2. Cymbopogon nardus Rendle, (Ceylon type oil).
The Java citronella (known as Mahapengiri in Ceylon) is a selection from Ceylon type.
The Java citronella was named as C. winterianus after Mr.Winter who first of all cultivate
and distill the plant on large scale.
Java type is considered superior as it contains about 85% total alcohol and Ceylon type only
50-65%.
At present the Java type is cultivated in most of the citronella oil producing countries
whereas, cultivation of Ceylon type is confined to Ceylon only on limited scale.
 It was introduced in Java from Ceylon in 1899.

4. MORPHOLOGY OF CITRONELLA
It is a dense aromatic perennial herb with fibrous root. It is 2 m tall,
with smooth leaves and bearing a large inflorescence. Its center of
origin is SRILANKA
VARIETY OF CITRONELLA
Mandakini - Clonal selection, gives a little less herb yield (35 t/ha) and oils (118 kg/ha).
the variety is suitable for hills and Tarai tracts of Himalayas.
Manjusha - Clonal selection, gives a herbage yield of 43 tons/ha. and 150 kg/ha of oil per
annum. The variety is suitable for Indo-Gangetic plains.
Manjiri - This variety has been released by University of Agriculture Sciences,
Bangalore. It is an elite mutant clone of Manjusha M3-8. It has been found to possess 50-
90% more oil, high citronellol and low elemol content. It has profuse tillering and rapid
growing ability thus producing a high herb yields.
CIMAP Bio-13, Java-2, Jorhat-2 - High yielding varieties the southern and eastern India
released by CIMAP.

5.  The species has been found to grow well under varying soil
conditions, but the sandy loam soil with abundant organic
matter is the most suitable. Deep well drained fertile soil
suits for the cultivation (C.winterianus).
 Areas with water stagnation during rainy season should be
avoided for cultivation.
 pH around 6.0 is considered to be optimum, but successful
cultivation of citronella is being done in soils with pH less
than 6, in north-eastern region and more than8.0 in U.P. and
Karnataka.
SOIL REQUIRED FOR CITRONELLA

6. CLIMATE REQUIRED FOR CITRONELLA
 Citronella thrives well under the tropical and subtropical
conditions
 Humid climate with 200-250cm regular rainfall offers most
favorable condition for plant growth and oil production.
 Temperatures beyond 38oC and below 20o C do not
support good growth of plant.
 Well distributed sunshine is good for growth

7. LAND PREPARATION FOR CITRONELLA
 Land for Citronella cultivation should be well prepared by
ploughing the soil for several times.
 In areas prone to heavy weed infestation, special care should
be taken to minimize weed problem.
 To protect the plant against soil born insect pests it is
advisable to mix soil-applied insecticides at the time of last
ploughing.

8. PROPAGATION MATERIAL FOR CITRONELLA
 Citronella is a perennial grass, however, it can be propagated by
seeds, or vegetatively by slips
 For commercial purpose propagation by slips is considered best.
PROPOGATON BY SLIPS
Slips are achieved by splitting well-grown clumps. It has been
observed that an year old clump yields on an average about 50 slips.
The clump is gently separated into a number of slips and each slip
contains 1-3 tillers. These slips on planting establish themselves as
plants or bushes. Fibrous roots and leaves should be trimmed off the
slips before planting.

9.  The slips should be taken from healthy, vigorously growing and young
bushes and should be
 Bushes should be planted soon after been dug up and the slips have been
separated out.
 If the planting is delayed, the slips may partially dry up resulting in poor
plant population.
 The slips are planted vertically, about 10 cm deep.
 The planting should be done in such a way that the excess water is drained
off quickly because plants are extremely sensitive to waterlogging, for this it
is better to plant citronella on ridges to avoid waterlogging.
 The field should be irrigated immediately after planting if there are no rains
within next 24 hours.
 Best time of planting is onset of rains.
METHOD OF PLANTING FOR CITRONELLA

10. INTERCULTURAL OPERATIONS FOR CITRONELLA
 The citronella plantations should be kept weed free.
 When the plants formed bushes, the problem of weeds is not so severe
because of growth of the bushes. The bushes do not allow weeds to grow
around them by cutting off the sunlight.
 In the newly established plantations and after each harvest, the weeds grow
in the inter-row spaces and weeding is essential. The problem becomes more
severe in rainy season.
 After the planning of crop weeds grow vigorously and cause severe
competition, resulting more than 50% reduction in the yield in planting year.
 Besides, weeds also affect the establishment of slips

11. WEEDS MANAGMENT
The plantation should be kept weed free for 60-75 days of planting, which is most
critical for weed competition.
One to two weeding at the initial stages and earthing up after each harvest are
required.
After this period the plant develops sufficient canopy and take care of weeds
themselves.
Weeds in citronella can be managed manually or by using selective herbicides,
mimazine 1.5 kg, diuron 1.0 kg or Oxyfluorfen .25 kg/ ha applied pre-planting in
first year and after hoeing in subsequent years of growth.
Application of organic mulch (citronella distillation waste) 5 tones/ha, alone or in
combination with herbicide has found quite advantageous in minimizing the weed
competition and improving the productivity of crop.
Maintenance of optimum plant population and planting of crop in Feb-March, in
sub-tropical climate, are some of the precautionary measures to minimize weed
problem in citronella plantations.

12. MANURES, FERTILIZERS AND IRRIGATION FOR
CITRONELLA
It is a general practice to apply sufficient organic manures and fertilizers.
It is common practice to apply spent grass (Distilled herb) to supplement manures
and fertilizers requirement, prefer green manuring.
The fertilizer requirement of crop greatly depends on the fertility status of the soil
and the climatic conditions.
On an Average soil 10-15 t/ha FYM along with 25:40:40 kg/ha NPK should be used
as basal dose.
75 kg N/ha can be applied in 3 equal splits of 25 kg each at 3, 6 and 9 months after
planting.
Citronella requires moist condition for good growth.
In sub-tropical areas of north-India where rainy season lasts for only 3-4 months, the
crop requires regular irrigation during rain free period
 In humid part of north-east India where rainfall is well distributed with prolonged
rainy season, the crop is cultivated as rain fed.

13. INSECT PEST AND DISEASES FOR CITRONELLA
No serious insects pests have been reported.
However, plantation in southern and north-eastern parts of the country are
sometimes affected with stem borer.
The insect may cause severe damage to the plantation.
Application of carbofuron3g approx15 kg/ha is recommended.
 Insecticide should be incorporated in the soil with hoeing for better results.
Sometimes insects like red spider mite and sucking pests attack the crop to
control it dimethoate 2ml/l should be sprayed.
There are two important diseases of citronella, which affects the growth, and
production of oils. These are
1. Leaf blight
2. Anthracnose /Red leaf spot

14. 1.Leaf blight:
• CAUSETIVE AGENT -It is caused by Curvularia andropogonis, C. trofoli, C. verruciformis,
C. evagrostidis.
• SYPTOMS - This disease appear as minute circular, reddish brown spots mostly on the leaf
margin and tips which later enlarge and coalesce to form longitudinal, elongated, reddish
brown, necrotic lesions resulting in premature drying of leaves. older leaves are much
susceptible to infection.
• PREVENTION - The disease can be controlled by prophylactic spraying of any of the
Dithiocarbamates viz. Dithane M-45, Dithiane, Z-78 at an interval of 10-15 days during the
growing period.
2.Red leaf-spot:
• CAUSETIVE AGENT - It is caused by Collectrotrichum graminicola, C. condatum.
• SYPTOMS - The disease appears as small brownish spots, scattered all over the ventral
surface of the leaves, under conductive conditions, the disease infects the leaf sheaths and
midrib. When the disease advances, many such spots may coalesce to form a bigger patch,
leading to drying of the affected leaf.
• PREVENTION - Spray Bavistin or Benomyl (0.1%) just after the appearance of the disease
at 20 days interval.

15. YIELD OF CITRONELLA
On an average
 The herbage yield is about 20 - 30 t/ha/year.
 The oil content ranges from 0.2% to 0.3% and average oil yield is
as under
 First year : 50 - 100 kg/ha
 Second year : 100 - 150 kg/ha
 Fifth year : 250 - 300 kg/ha

16. HARVESTING OF CITRONELLA
Citronella is cultivated for essential oil. All the plant parts contain oil, leaves contain the
maximum amount of oil. Therefore, only the leaves should be harvested.
 Harvesting is done by sharp sickle at about 20-45cm above the ground. The number of
harvests, in a year, depends upon the growth of the plants.
The leaves are ready for first harvest, about 6 months after planting.
The second and subsequent harvests can be taken thereafter at 2.5 -3 months interval.
Early and late harvesting affects the quality of oil adversely. The delay also causes the leaves
to dry up resulting in decrease in yield of oil.
While harvesting, only the leaf blade should be cut and the sheath should be left. This is
because the sheath contains only little and poor quality oil.
 Flowering should be discouraged as it causes aging in plants and reduces their life span.
The same schedule of harvesting is to be followed during second and subsequent years.
The Java citronella plantations remain productive for 5-6 years but the yield of leaves and
oil is highest during second and third years, after which it starts decreasing.

17. The oil of citronella Java finds wide application in perfumery industry world over, both
directly and indirectly.
It is used extensively in soap, detergents, house hold cleaners, mosquito repellent, creams and
other technical preparations.
Citronella Java oil also serves as starting materials for certain important isolates such as
geraniol, citronellal.
These isolates can be converted into some of the most widely used aromatics like citronellal,
hydroxyl citronellal, synthetic menthol and esters of geraniol and citronellal.
Citronellal is occasionally used in traces in flower compositions of the citrus, cherry, ginger,
etc. However, the greatest importance of Citronellal lies in its role as a starting material for
further derivatives.
Hydroxy citronellal can be prepared from citronellal and it is a key ingredient in
compounding. Hydroxy citronellal is one of the most frequently used floralizing perfume
materials.
High grade is used in flavor compositions.
USES OF CITRONELLA

18. POST HARVEST PROCESSING OF CITRONELLA
 The grass is steam-distilled for better recovery of oil and economical purposes.
 The distillation equipment consists of a boiler in which steam is produced, a distillation tub for distilling
the grass, a condenser and 2-3 receivers /separators.
 The distillation tub is made steel with a perforated bottom, called false bottom, on which the grass rests.
It has two opening: one at the bottom for steam entry and the other at the top through which the oil vapor
and steam escape.
 The top of the still is fitted with a lid, which is removable.
 Tubular condensers oil vapors, coming out from the distillation tub, enter from the top of the condenser
and cool down while passing through the tubular tubes.
 Oil and water vapors after condensation are led to a receiver where the oil separates out from the water
and floats on the top and is drawn off.
 The remaining leaves are cut into shorter lengths. This reduces the volume of the grass and facilities firm
and even packing within the still. Further, chopping the grass gives a higher yield of oil compared to
uncut grass.
 Generally, distillation is complete within 2-3 hours under normal pressure starting from the initial
condensation of the oil.
 About 80% of the total oil yield is recovered in the first hour, 19% in the second hour and about 1% in the
3rd hour, of distillation.
 Larger percentages of the major components in the total oil, such as citronellal, geraniol, and citronellal
and geranyl acetate are recovered on the first hour of distillation