ACCENT JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS ECOLOGY & ENGINEERING
Peer Reviewed and Refereed Journal IMPACT FACTOR: 2.104(INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL) ISSN-2456-1037 Vol.04,Special Issue 04, 2nd Conference (ICIRSTM) April 2019, Available Online: www.ajeee.co.in/index.php/AJEEE
1
KATHTHA : RURAL SMALL SCALE INDUSTRY OF INDIA O. P. Sharma
Botany Department, Govt. College Bundi (Rajasthan)
Kaththa is an important ingredient of ‘Paan’ (betel leaves) chewed extensively in India.It is obtained from the heartwood of Acacia catechu ( L.f.) Willd. plant. It is totally plant based small scale industry of India.The present paper communicates information about general practices ,extraction and economic uses of Acacia catechu (L.f.) Willd.
Key words : Acacia catechu, Heartwood, Kaththa, Sapwood 1 INTRODUCTION
Kaththa is chewed extensively in India and several other country of Asia and Europe . It is obtained from the chips of the heartwood of Acacia catechu ( L.f.) Willd.(Mimosaceae). This small tree in India is widely distributed in the drier regions of U.P., M.P., Punjab, Haryana, Bihar, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and some other states.
The another major product extracted mechanically from the heartwood of this plant is ‘cutch’. The Kaththa industry is located mostly in Bareilly in U.P., Gwalior in M.P. and Mumbai in Maharashtra.
1.1 Systematic enumeration of Kaththa tree :
Acacia catechu (L.f.) Willd. Trees, 3-6 m high, bark dark grey or greyish-brown, young branchlets pubescent. Prickles hooked. Leaves 2-pinnate, Leaflets 10-30 pairs, subsessile, linear-oblong, subacute, pilose. Flowers pale yellow. Pods stalked dark brown, 5-10 seeded.
Fl. & Fr. : May-September.
The present studies provide a clear picture of the extraction and uses of Kaththa plant.
2 MATERIAL AND METHODS
Literature survey of floristic work was studying the earlier work done by Mathur (1960), Jayaraman and Singh (1987), Patil and Yadav (2002), Sharma (2002), Sujana and Sivaperuman ( 2008 ), Ali, Ziada and Blunden ( 2009 ) Sharma ( 2014) and Nongbri, Borthakur and Bokolial ( 2017 ).
Field tours were conducted based on information gathered from local people of the various concerning areas of state.
Studies were made during the year 2016- 2018. Extraction process and uses of Kaththa have been mentioned in this paper.
3 RESULT AND DISCUSSION
The crude processes of Kaththa extraction completes in about three months. In the first two months, the chips of the heartwood are boiled in water several times in small aluminium utensils. The entire decoction gets concentrated and is allowed to settle and dry in open in the next one month. This results in the formation of Kaththa crystals, which are cut into blocks of specific size. The Kaththa, thus obtained, is dark coloured and is of inferior quality.
The Kaththa factories now extract Kaththa by mechanical process. A modern Kaththa factory has several separate sections, such peeling,chipping, boiling, evaporating, steam generating, chilling, filtering, grading, packing sections. An axe is used to peel off the sapwood, and thus the left over dark brown heartwood is cut into blocks for the chipping machine. Hammer mill or disintegrator is used for obtaining the fine chips of uniform size . These are transferred to the wooden vats containing water. Steam is circulated for a specific period for boiling.
The centrifugal pumps are used for the separation of the liquid extract from the waste chips. This extract is than passed through a filter type evaporator in the evaporating section of the factory. The liquids thus gets concentrated , and is then pumped into the tanks where is then stored in the coldroom for about ten days in the chilling section of the factory.
Filter presses are used in the filtration section. The Kaththa settles down in the filter frames. The substance which percolated through the filter cloth is ‘cutch’. The semisolid Kaththa is now subjected through hydraulic pressure, and finally cut into square cakes of desired size. These cakes are placed for some time in drying chamber for complete drying. Such dried cakes are finally graded in packed in a separate section of the factory. Kaththa when washed and
ACCENT JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS ECOLOGY & ENGINEERING
Peer Reviewed and Refereed Journal IMPACT FACTOR: 2.104(INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL) ISSN-2456-1037 Vol.04,Special Issue 04, 2nd Conference (ICIRSTM) April 2019, Available Online: www.ajeee.co.in/index.php/AJEEE
2 filtered alternately 5-7 times, attains its purest form known as ‘kheer sal’.
Kaththa is primarily used with
‘Paan’ (betel leaves). It is also used medicinally for curing indigestion, bronchitis, ulcers, throat diseases, piles, and leucorrhoea. It is also said to be useful in curing leprosy and urinary tract infections. Cutch, an important ingredient of ‘Paan’, used as a raw material for plywood adhesives and also for dyeing ropes, canvas and fishing nets. These days it is used by the oil and natural gas commission of India in oil drilling operations. ‘Kheer sa’l is used medicinally in the treatment of cough, sore throat, asthma and related diseases. The socio- economic values and multiutility potential of Kaththa plant have been included in this paper.
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