Adnan Niazi Department of Agronomy Mphil Scholar at BZU (BahauddinZakriyaUniversity, Multan) +92-303-8701782

1. Castorbean
Adnan Ashraf Niazi
College of Agriculture, UOS

2. Castor bean
Introduction
• Castor bean (Ricinus communis L.) is non-edible oil seed crop with
enormous significance.
• The castor bean belongs to the family Euphorbiaceae, a diverse and
economically-important family of flowering plants.
• The castor bean is considered native to tropical Africa and is grown
particularly in arid and semi arid regions.
• It is grown in 43 countries of the world including Pakistan and is
cultivated on commercial scale in more than 30 countries.

3. Continued……
• Castor plants are very common along stream banks, river beds,
bottom lands, and just about any hot area where the soil is well
drained and with sufficient nutrients and moisture to sustain the
vigorous growth.
• Castor can be grown on almost all soils provided they are well
drained and not highly alkaline.
• Appropriate pH range for it is 5.0-6.5, although it can tolerate pH
level up to 8.0.

4. Origin
• It is interesting to trace the origin of the name "castor.“
• Castor is the generic name of the North American beaver (castor canadensis
• Communis mean common in Latin and castor were naturalized when Carolus
Linnaeus was giving scientific names to plants and animals over 200 years
ago.
• Ricinus is the Latin word for tick and for Mediterranean sheep tick (Ixodes
ricinus).
• Apparently Linnaeus thought the seeds looked like ticks, particularly large
ticks engorged with blood.
• The mottled body of certain ticks superficially resembles a castor bean seed
and the tick's head resembles the caruncle of a castor bean seed.

5. History
• Castor beans have been found in ancient Egyptian tombs dating back
to 4000 B.C., and the oil was used thousands of years ago in wick
lamps for lighting.
• Historically, Brazil, India and China have been the major castor
cultivating countries to meet major part of the global market.
• The available record indicates that in Pakistan this plant was under
cultivation at large scale in the past but now it is progressively fading
from the cultivated fields. (Anonymus, 2000).

6. Continued….
• In Pakistan, the area under castor has been decreasing since 1979.
• The average area during 1980-85 ranged between 20,000 and 30,000
hectares. During 1985-90, it further declined to 14,000 hectares and
in 1991-92 only 3,050 hectare were planted under castor.
• The major contribution (85%) came from Sindh (Hattam and Abbasi,
1994).

7. Description:
• Large, rank, annual or perennial (in the south), 5-12 feet tall.
• Leaves large, palmate, with 5-11 lobes up to 3-5 feet across.
• Flowers in clusters; female ones above, male ones below; July
to September.
• The flowers have no petals and grow in upright panicles
covered with dark brown spines.
• The fruit which follows is a capsule containing 3 large seeds.
• The dark shiny seeds are extremely poisonous if swallowed,
but can be easily removed from the plant when they first begin
to form.

8. Production Technology
• castor bean is extremely sensitive to frost, seed must be started
indoors in early spring in cooler climates, or outdoors only in warm
ground.
• . Space plants 3-4 feet apart in full sun.
• Adaptable to most soils; adding fertilizer will give brightest color and
faster growth.
• Its seed yields may be low on fertile soils due to more vegetative
growth and delayed flowering and maturity (Hattam and Abbasi,
1994).
• The optimal temperature range for good growth is between 20 and
26°C with low humidity during the growing season.

9. Production Technology
• The highest yield is obtained with a minimum rainfall of 600-700 mm,
good yield with 375-500 mm, and fairly acceptable yield with 100
mm (Hattam and Abbassi, 1994).
• In irrigated areas, 4-6 irrigations are required for maturity, excess of
water is just as harmful as its deficiency.
• Prefer good drainage, lots of water, will grow in clay or sandy loam.

10. Varieties
• Ricinus africanus ;
It have very large green leaves.
• R. macrocarpus ;
It has purple red foliage.
• R. cambodgensis ;
Has blackish-purple stem and leaves.

11. Varieties
• R. sanguinea ;
It has red leaves.
• R. gibsonii;
• It is lovely dwarf , has dark red leaves with a metallic
luster.
Various varieties vary in oil content ranging
from 40-60 per cent, averaging about 47 per cent (Clans,1959) .

12. Medicinal uses
• Castor oil, seeds, leaves and roots have numerous medicinal
importance.
• These are utilized in;
peritonitis, diarrhea, dysentery, lumbago, constipation, piles,
paralysis, asthma, leprosy, arthritis, chest, back or abdomen pain,
headache and the rheumatism (Kritikar and Basu, 1984; Graves,
1996; Anonymous, 2000).

13. Medicinal Uses
• Ricinoleic acid available in castor bean oil has its proven effectiveness in
inhibiting the growth of various species of viruses, bacteria, yeasts and
molds.
• Ricin, a poisonous substance found in castor, is state-of-art tool in
neurobiology for selectively destroying neuronal populations (De-La-
Cruz et al., 1995).
• castor oil is used in the treatment of epilepsy.
• Combined with baking soda and applied to skin cancers, the treatment
takes a long time but is very effective, with no scars after healing.