Castor is an important industrial oilseed crop.
Castor finds a place of prestige in the cropping systems of dry-land agriculture
in semi-arid zones of India, because of its deep root system, drought
hardiness, and quick
Castor is an important industrial oilseed crop.
Castor finds a place of prestige in the cropping systems of dry-land agriculture
in semi-arid zones of India, because of its deep root system, drought
hardiness, and quick growth. India occupies the second prestigious position
in world’s castor market after Brazil. India also exports substantial
part of its total castor produce to earn foreign exchange.Castor oil finds a number of uses for domestic, medicinal and industrial
purposes. Castor oil contains a very high percentage (approximately 85
per cent) of hydroxy fatty acid known as recinoleic acid. Recinoleic acid
can be treated by dehydration. This dehydrated castor oil is in demand
for paints and varnishes because of its non-yellowing quality.Castor
oil is used as a lubricant in all moving parts of machinery, and for internal
combustion engines especially those used in airplanes.
It is also used
as an illuminant, giving a bright and steady flame and burning much longer
than any other vegetable oil. Hydrogenated castor oil is used in polishes,
ointments, waxes, printing inks, cosmetic, hair dressings, soaps and disinfectants.
Castor oil is also used as a purgative. In dyeing industries, it is used
for the preparation of `Turkey red’.
Castor oil is used in many veterinary uses. It is used externally as an
emollient. It is also used as a soothing medium when dropped into the
eyes of animals after removal of foreign bodies.
The castor oil cake is a valuable manure, but owing to the presence of
the poison `ricin’ it is unfit for cattle feed. It contains about 5.5
per cent nitrogen, 1.8-1.9 per cent phosphorus and 1.1 per cent potash.
Area of Cultivation
The castor plant grows throughout India up to an elevation of 2500
metres. Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Orissa and Karnataka are the important
castor growing states.
Castor requires a moderately high temperature 20-27°C with low humidity
throughout the growing season. It grows best in areas where there are clear
warm sunny days. Prolonged cloudy weather with high temperature at the time
of flowering results in poor seed set. High temperature above 41°C at flowering
time even for a short period results in blasting of flowers and poor seed
set. The plant is considered to be very resistant to drought but even then
about 80-1000 mm evenly distributed rainfall in required for optimum growth.
Heavy rainfall at flowering reduces the yield. Castor plant is very susceptible
Castor can be raised practically on any type of soil, but as with a number
of other plants, a well drained loam will produce the optimum yield. Very
heavy clays and marshy conditions are unfavourable for proper growth. The
cultivation of castor should, however, be confined to the upland areas as
this crop is highly susceptible to water logged conditions. The crop can
also not tolerate alkalinity of soil but can withstand slight to moderate
acidity of soil.
Castor is grown either as a pure crop in rotation with wheat, linseed etc.,
or is grown mixed with cotton, groundnut, arhar, green gram, jowar, bajra
The castor plant demands a deep rooting medium because of its well-developed
root system. Deep ploughing is necessary to break up any compact layers
in the soil so that the roots can penetrate deep in the soil to obtain moisture
from depth during dry periods. Disk harrowing should follow ploughing, to
break up clods, level the seedbed, and destroy weeds. The type of seedbed
required for castor is generally similar to that prepared for cotton or
maize. The seedbed should be moist to a depth of 15-20 cm.
The right time of planting castor varies between 20th June
to 5th July. It is advisable to sow the seed as soon as the monsoon
breaks in second fortnight of June. Sowing after 20th July gives
poor yields in Kharif season. Sowing time varies slightly in different states
as given below:
irrigated conditions for dwarf varieties, a row to row distance of 60 cm
and rainfed conditions 90 cm has been found optimum for good plant growth.
Plant to plant distance should be 45 cm. The seeds may be sown at 8 cm depth
behind the plough or maize planter at the rate of 18-20 kg seed per hectare.
If compost or farm yard manure is available, 10-15 tonnes may be added
per hectare about 15-20 days before sowing. Neem cake is beneficial to this
crop because it increases the oil percentage. The fertilizer requirement
of the castor crop is 60 kg nitrogen, 40 kg P2O5,
and 40 kg K2O per hectare. Under irrigated conditions half dose
of nitrogen and full dose of phosphorous and potash should be applied at
the time of planting and the remaining half dose of nitrogen should be top
dressed at 60 days of crop growth. Under rainfed condi