Lucknow:
The ancient Parijat tree in Barabanki district is now free of ailments. The treatment administered by the CSIR lab, National Botanical Research Institute, has made the tree healthy again.
On Wednesday, D K Upreti, officiating director, NBRI, handed over the report containing recommendations on how to preseve the generations-old entity to the forest department. Though NBRI had administered chemical treatment to the tree initially, it has now recommended a microbial biopesticide (Bacillus based inoculants) to be applied on the trunk and leaves of the tree thrice in a year to keep it clean of infections. NBRI also gave Bacillus packets to forest department.
“When we visited the site and studied the samples of the tree and soil we found a huge number of bacterial and fungal infections but now it has been treated and cured completely,” said NBRI’s senior principal scientist S K Tiwari.
NBRI, a CSIR laboratory, was brought on board by the forest department to study the condition of the tree after TOI highlighted how it is wilting and is in dire need of conservation. Scientists had collected samples of the tree’s healthy tissue, wood from the affected portion and soil to find the cause. The sample analysis showed the tree was infested with multiple bacteria and fungi.
The tree was put under treatment in February and administered chemical therapy twice. The tree has a small temple at its base and devotees, for years, have been offering water and sweets as prasad there. Right at the spot it had developed a large opening in its trunk.
Though the tree is being looked after by the forest department as less than an acre land on which the tree exists in forest area, the treatment by the department along with regular spraying of disinfectants proved inefficient and insufficient to preserve the tree.
Parijat (Adansonia digitata) is an exotic tree, an African specie with peculiar features. It bears only flowers and no fruits, the reason it is difficult to grow anywhere. Its white flowers turn golden after a certain period. Barabanki’s Parijat is mythically believed to have come out of the ‘samudra manthan’ (churning of ocean) and brought to earth by Arjun from the garden of Indra for his mother Kunti to offer to Lord Shiva and seek victory of Pandavas over Kauravas. A few years ago, the Centre had released two postal stamps on this tree. “Parijat is said to be ‘kalpvrikhsh’ or the wish-fulfilling tree,” said a priest at the site of the tree.
Experts from Narendra Dev University of Agriculture and Technology, Faizabad too studied the cause of the tree’s decay after Barabanki district administration sought help in 2012.
The age of the tree is anybody’s guess. According to forest officers, it’s only when one cuts the trunk of the tree and counts its rings that it can be known how old it is.
Parijat is ‘top-drying’, meaning its branches dry from the top. It sheds leaves in winters and during May-June new leaves sprout, so for six months it is green and rest of the year barren.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Lucknow / Neha Shukla, TNN / June 02nd, 2016