The humble tapioca leaf has a new status.
The leaf has been identified as a biopesticide that could protect fruits, including papaya, banana and mango orchards, from pest-wastage. Loss of orchard fruits due to pest-related wastage could be as high as 50% and the research team of the Crop Protection Division of Central Tuber Crops Research Institute (CTCRI), Thiruvananthapuram, has developed an equipment to extract oil from tapioca leaves.
CTCRI scientists have applied for a patent for the tapioca-leaf-based bio- pesticide and for the equipment.
Tapioca leaves contain toxic substance called cyanogenic glucosides. ?We have succeeded in converting the toxic substance to an effective bio-pesticide,? said CA Jayaprakash, head of the crop protection divison of CTCRI.
The team has isolated the insecticidal principles from the leaves and tuber rinds of tapioca and developed bio-pesticides which could act against insect pests afflicting field crops. A formulation has also been made against sucking pests like mealy bugs, aphids and leaf-eating caterpillar.
Since the tightening of phyto-sanitary food import criteria the world over and heightened awareness on chemical pesticide residue, the clamour for bulk production of effective bio-pesticides that could cover fruit and vegetable safety has been high.
The bio-pesticides from cassava could be used for management of borer pests like pseudostem weevil (Odoiporus longicollis) in banana, red palm weevil (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus) and other borer pests of tree and fruits crops.
Over 30,000 banana plants have been raised in three districts of Kerala with the treatment of bio-pesticides and the crop is now ready for harvest, according to the researchers. The new tapioca-leaf-based pesticide was successfully used in the papaya plantations in Tamil Nadu last year, when they were afflicted by the melee bug.
At the same time, commercial-scale production of the pesticide may take a year or two.
Life Sciences Research Board of government of India and KSCSTE (Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment) have joined hands to set up a pilot plant for the extraction of bio-pesticide from tapioca leaves.
The Kerala government is planning to expand tapioca cultivation after a factory has been set up to extract oil from leaves.
One kilogram of tapioca leaf yields up to eight litres of biopesticide, says VR Shashankan, technical officer, CTCRI.
Tapioca is cultivated in the summer season as an intercrop in the paddy fields.In Tamil Nadu, tapioca cultivation has been gaining ground. CTCRI had conducted its field studies in coconut farms in Kasargode (north Kerala) and plantain plantations in Coimbatore.