Palm tree cultivation

Areca catechu is a palm tree cultivated in Southeast Asia, India, and Africa. The nuts of this palm, often referred to as betel nuts, are chewed by more than 200 million people to produce a mildly stimulating effect. So, though not often seen in the United States, areca is one of the world s most popular drugs. Chewing areca or betel is a practice similar to chewing tobacco in the United States, and, like nicotine, the active chemical in areca, arecoline, affects the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. Users appear to develop a nicotine-like dependence on areca. Heavy use stains the mouth and lips red and damages the mouth and teeth, but users are often unable to quit chewing despite these problems (Spinella, 2001). 

Similarly, palm tree cultivation to extract palm oil is at the center of the debate. Several reports say that palm tree cultivation in Malaysia and Indonesia has certainly caused deforestation (Gao et al., 2011). In practice, not all of the palm plantations are grown on deforested land often shifting cultivation or the encroachment on the forest for agricultural practices takes place first by villagers, and thereafter these areas may be taken over for palm tree... 

Areca (Areca catechu) is a palm tree that grows up to 30 meters in height (Gruenwald et al. 1998 Robbers et al. 1996). It is cultivated in India, southeast Asia, the East Indies, and East Africa. It grows green leaflets and numerous flowers. The fruit of the areca palm is a nut that contains a single seed and a thin seed coat (figure 4.10). Areca is chewed alone or... 

Due to climate- and soil-related cultivation restrictions, different oil crops are characteristic for different parts of the world. Nevertheless, a global market exists and international trade in oil seeds, vegetable oils, and respective by-products is significant. The major oil crops worldwide are oil palm, soybean, rapeseed (canola), and sunfiower (see Table 4.1). The latter three are described in more detail below. Palm oil, which is obtained from the oil palm tree mainly planted in South East Asia (especially in Indonesia and Malaysia), grew to be the vegetable oil with the highest consumption (42.1 million tons, 30%) ahead of soybean oil (37.9 million tons, 28%) [1]. It has several applications in food, oleochemicals, and other industries [2], while it is also discussed as a major source for biodiesel. 

Fatty matter and oils, whether animal or vegetable, are made up of triglycerides. The main raw materials used in soap making include tallow from beef and sheep and coconut oil. The fruit of the coconut tree is much larger than the fruit of the palm tree. The coconut is green, which becomes brown on drying. It is the nut of the fruit that is used to make oil (Figure 25.1). Areas of cultivation are the Solomon Islands and the Philippines. 

The oil crops have been cultivated since antiquity. Rapeseed was described in the Indian Sanskrit writings of 2000 Bc and sesame seed was already known in ancient times. For the past half century, the cultivation of oil-bearing plants has increased considerably. There are several species of plants in the world whose oil can be utiUzed for human consumption. Although Lennarts (1983) described forty different oilseeds, there are only ten edible oil crops of commercial value in the world market. Seven of these are seed crops (cottonseed, groundnuts, rapeseed, safflower seed, sesame seed, soybeans and sunflower seed), and three are tree crops (coconut, olives and oil palm/kemels). Cultivation of several of these crops (coconut with copra, and oil palm/palm kernels) is limited almost exclusively to developing countries, where the most favourable climatic and soil conditions are available. However, some are annual crops and some are perennial (tree) crops, and these have very different possibilities of responding to changes in the world market. 

Palm oil (palm fat). An oil obtained from the fruit pulp tissue (endosperm) of the palm oil tree Elaeis guineen-sis)-, palm kernel oil is the corresponding oil from the se s. Mp. 30-37°C color orange-yellow to red-brown ( red palm oil ) because of the high content of carotinoids (approx. 500 mg/kg). The fatty acid compositions of the two oils are very different P. is rich in palmitic acid (ca. 42%) and oleic acid (ca. 41%), while palm kernel oil is rich in lauric acid (ca. 50%). Main areas of cultivation Malaysia, Indonesia, and West Africa. World-wide production (1992) 12000000 tons thus palm oil is second only to soya oil as the economically most important plant oil. 

The Chinese tallow tree, a deciduous tree, has been cultivated in China for centuries partly because the leaves yield a black dye used for dyeing silk. The tree grows to a height of 7-10 m under wet subtropical conditions and is found in China, USA and Pakistan. Recent studies suggest that with proper harvesting techniques it could provide an oil yield per hectare similar to the oil palm (Morgan and Shultz, 1981). 

ORIGIN AND HISTORY. The date palm is native to the dry areas of southwestern Asia. It was likely the first cultivated tree in history it has been under cultivation in the Holy Land for at least 8,000 years. About 1,700 years ago, it was introduced into China from Iran. Then, in the 17th century, the Spanish took it to California. 

Dates (Phoenix dactylifera) are probably the oldest cultivated fruit, having been cultivated for over 5000 years. It is a major crop in the Middle East and there are over 2000 cultivars. As with other palms, the sap is tapped for fermentation into toddy which is also distilled. A well-managed tree will produce 400-600 kg dates per year from the age of 5 years for up to 60 years. Al Farsi et al. (2005) report that dates contain unspecified carotenoids and anthocyanins together with protocatechuic acid, vanillic acid, syringic acid and ferulic acid... 

Proposals to implement a biorefinery approach for platform chemical production have ignited a debate on whether biorefinery feedstock production threatens food security and increases the rate of deforestation (Ravindranath et al., 2008). It s worrying because the feedstock suitable for biorefinery implementation is procured primarily from forests. Any activity such as feedstock production, which puts considerable pressure on the forest cover, endangers natural heritage and biodiversity (Achten et al., 2013). This chapter discusses various forest-based feedstocks for biorefinery. Moreover, it seeks to elaborate the industrial applications of this feedstock, their characteristics and land requirements (essentially the extent of theoretical deforestation), their production, and procurement. Clearly the influence of biorefinery on woodlands will rely on the nature of the feedstock being used. For example, Brazil utilizes deforested land for sugarcane cultivation and subsequent ethanol production. However, in the case of Indonesia, rain forests were cleared for palm oil production. All of the biorefinery processes require cellulose as the raw material, and since the major source of cellulose in nature is in the form of trees, large-scale deforestation seems to be a plausible end scenario (Gao et al., 2011). 

Oil palm is a tree whose fruits are used for the extraction of edible oil. It originated from West Africa, cultivated in all tropical areas of the world and has become one of the main industrial crops (Kelly-Yong et al., 2007). Additionally, the oil palms Elaeis) comprise two species of the Arecaceae, or palm family. The African oil palm Elaeis guineensis is native to west Africa, occurring between Angola and Gambia, while the American oil palm Elaeis oleifera is... 

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