young plants are to be kept in glass houses till early June where they are hardened and kept
out. The suitable season of growing is kharif season. The crop is usually sown in April and
planting is done in early July. The land is to be ploughed 2-3 times with the onset of rains
and is repeated after rain. The spacing recommended is 60X90cm in case of pure crop but it
is seldom cultivated pure. It is usually grown mixed with crops such as jowar, arhar, chilly,
groundnut, cowpea, cotton, etc. 10-15t FYM/ha and 50kg N, 50kg P 2 O 5 and 20kg K 2 O/ha
will be sufficient. Addition of neem cake is beneficial as it increases oil content. There
should be sufficient moisture in the field at the time of sowing. A month after planting,
weeding and earthing up is to be done. The plant is attacked by hairy caterpillar, castor semi-
looper, castor seed caterpillar, etc. which can be managed by integrated pest management
measures. The leaf blight disease occurring in castor can be controlled by spraying with
Bordeaux mixture 2-3 times at 15 days interval. Harvesting of ripe fruits can be done from
the end of November till the end of February. The fruit branches are picked when they are
still green to avoid splitting and scattering of the seeds. The pods are to be heaped up in the
sun to dry. Then the seeds are to be beaten with stick and winnowed. Roots, leaves, flowers,
seeds and oil constitute the economic parts. The average yield is 500-600kg/ha (Thakur,
1990).
Properties and Activity
The beancoat yielded lupeol and 30-norlupan- 3 β-ol- 20 - one. Roots, stems and leaves
contain several amino acids. Flowers gave apigenin, chlorogenin, rutin, coumarin and
hyperoside. Castor oil is constituted by several fatty acids (Husain et al, 1992). Seed coat
contained 1. 50-1. 62% lipids and higher amounts of phosphatides and non-saponifiable
matter than seed kernel. Fresh leaves protected against liver injury induced by carbon tetra
chloride in rats while cold aqueous extract provided partial protection (Rastogi et al, 1991).
Root and stem is antiprotozoal and anticancerous. Root, stem and seed are diuretic. The roots
are sweet, acrid, astringent, thermogenic, carminative, purgative, galactagogue, sudorific,
expectorant and depurative. Leaves are diuretic, anthelmintic and galactagogue. Seeds are
acrid, thermogenic, digestive, cathartic and aphrodisiac. Oil is bitter, acrid, sweet,
antipyretic, thermogenic and viscous (Warrier et al, 1996). Castor oil forms a clean, light-
coloured soap, which dries and hardens well and is free from smell. The oil varies much in
activity. The East Indian is the more active, but the Italian has the least taste. Castor oil is an
excellent solvent of pure alkaloids. The oil furnishes sebacic acid and caprylic acid. It is the
most valuable laxative in medicines. It acts in about 5 hours, affecting the entire length of the
bowel, but not increasing the flow of bile, except in very large doses. The mode of its action
is unknown. The oil will purge when rubbed into the skin (Grieve and Leyel, 1992).