Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR), New Delhi and its regional station in Akola,
Maharashtra.
Botany
Abelmoschus moschatus Medicus syn. Hibiscus abelmoshus Linn. belongs to Family
Malvaceae. Muskmallow is an erect annual or biennial hirsute or hispid herb of 60-180 cm
height. The leaves are simple polymorphous, usually palmately 3-7 lobed; lobes narrow,
acute or oblong-ovate, crenate, serrate or irregularly toothed, hairy on both surfaces.
Flowers are large and bright yellow with purple centre. Fruits are fulvous, hairy and
capsular. Seeds are many, subreniform, black or greyish - brown and musk scented (Husain
et al, 1992).
Agrotechnology
Ambrette is a hardy plant which can be grown in varied climate under tropical and
subtropical conditions. It can be grown both as a rainfed crop and as an irrigated crop. It
grows on well drained loamy and sandy loam soils. Loamy soils with neutral pH and plenty
of organic matter are ideal for its cultivation.
Musk of propagated through seeds. The optimum time of sowing is June-July with pre-
monsoon showers. The land is prepared well by ploughing, harrowing and levelling. Well
decomposed FYM or compost is incorporated into the soil at 10 - 15 t/ha. Ridges and
furrows are formed giving a spacing of 60 - 100 cm. Seed rate is 2-3 kg/ha. Seeds are
soaked in water before sowing for 24 hours. Two to three seeds are sown per hole at 60 cm
spacing on one side of the ridge at a depth of 1 cm and covered with a pinch of sand or loose
soil. It takes 5-7 days for proper germination. After germination, extra seedlings are thinned
out leaving one healthy growing plant per hole within 20 days. Fertilisers are applied at
120:40:40 kg N, P 2 O 5 , K 2 O/ha generally. However, a dose 160:80:80 kg/ha is recommended
for best yields of seed and oil. Phosphorus is applied fully as basal. N and K are applied in
3 equal doses at planting, 2 and 4 months after planting. Fertilizers are applied 10 cm away
from the plants. For irrigated crop, field is irrigated soon after sowing. Irrigation is given
twice a week during the initial period and once a week thereafter. The field is kept weed
free by regular weeding during the growing period (Farooqi and Khan, 1991).
Musk plants suffer from pests like spider mites, fruit bores and leaf eating
caterpillars. Diseases like powdery mildew and wilt are also observed on the plant. Spider
mites and powdery mildew are controlled by spraying 30g wettable sulphur in 10 litres of
water. Pod borers can be controlled by spraying 20ml oxydemeton methyl in 10 litres of
water.
The crop starts flowering about 75 days after sowing. The flowers set into fruits in 3-
4 days and the pods take nearly a month to mature. Flowering and fruit setting extends from
October to April. Harvesting is arduous. Fruits have to be plucked as soon as they attain
black colour; otherwise, they split and seeds scatter. Therefore, weekly collection of pods is
necessary and in all 20-25 pluckings may be required as it is a 170-180 days duration crop.
The fruits are further dried and threshed to separate seeds. The seed yield is 1-1.5 /ha
Postharvest technology
. The oil is extracted from seed by steam distillation followed by solvent extraction.
The concrete of solvent extraction is further extracted with alcohol to get the absolute, that is,
the alcohol soluble volatile concentrate.