HERBAL RESEARCH, CONSULTANCY AND TRAINING
It is the ardent desire of His Holiness the Founder, who is a veteran of Herbal plants of medicinal values, and the Management to develop this institution into a Center Of Excellence in the field of Herbal Research by using the current developments in education and research in validating Herbal plants, their properties and the products.
Our dream plan is to make Herbal Research accessible to every student of science and motivate each learner towards pursuing individual research projects. The Herbal Research and Consultancy and training division is taking up innovative programmes and activities in co-ordination with the Life Science Departments towards achieving the same.
¡°Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known¡±
With the Benign Blessings of His Holiness Srimad Andavan Swamigal the research activities of the college are now in full swing. The Herbal Research Division has taken up research activities in validating herbs and herbal products. The division has also succeeded in developing a few products as suggested by His Holiness Srimad Andavan Swamigal.
IDENTIFIED THRUST AREAS:
Based on the strength of The Team Leader the following major Areas of Research were identified as part of teaching and extension programmes under Herbal Sciences.
1. Development of natural products as drugs from bio resources.
2. Development and Standardization of Herbal drugs/Products.
3. Validation of commercially available herbal drugs and formulations.
4. Development of Agrotechnics for Medicinal and Aromatic plants.
5. Development of human resources by commencing job oriented course Post Graduate Diploma in Herbal Technology, and training programmes in Herbal Sciences.
6. In-silico approaches in Herbal Drug development.
The college applied for projects to the DBT to promote cultivation and usage of herbs among the rural community. 2 projects were sanctioned, both to promote the economy of the villagers.
1. Commercial cultivation of medicinal plants an alternative strategy for self sustainability. Rs. 8.67 Lakhs
2. Promotion of entrepreneurial development among SC/ST and women through cultivation, value addition, product development and marketing through SHG approach. Rs. 21.15 Lakhs
With the aid of the financial assistance provided by the DBT, the research division has successfully fulfilled the project objectives-
• Creating awareness among the rural community on the cultivation and medicinal importance of aloe.
• Providing the villagers with quality planting material and educating them in the post harvesting technology.
• Training the SHG to extract the juice using the machinery in a sterile environment.
• Introducing the aloe based product to the market.
The goal of the project ¨C marketing was also achieved during the end of the second year of the project. The juice was marketed to Ramana Health Care Trichy on 20/06/09. The marketing will improve the economic status of the villagers of Panayapuram.
ACHIEVEMENTS:
After 3 years of strenuous exercise and concerted efforts by the faculty, it has now achieved Standardized Technical Know How for following new products.
I. Developed 7 potential Herbal products and process for the same. Which include
1. Swarnapatradi curna - Herbal Laxative
2. Aloe Sip - Health Drink
3. Solanie - Nutraceutical
4. Harithakadi Lehya - Nutritional Supplement
5. Krmighathukah - Bio preservative
6. Fresh-O- Fresh - Facial cream
7. Vrana lepa - Wound healing ointment
Swarnapatradi Churna:
The Churna is a combination of the culinary items that we use in our day to day life. It contains pepper, long pepper, dried ginger, Senna and kadukkai. The plant materials were shade dried and powdered and capsuled. The drug proved to be a very good laxative, which was proved scientifically using animal models.
Aloe Sip:
The herbal soft drink was developed to promote the consumption of herbal based foods. It relates to the old saying ¡°Food as Medicine¡±. It provides us with the goodness of Aloe vera in a form that would reach the younger generation too.
Solanie:
The components of the nutritional supplement are manathakali and thuduvalai. It has been proved that these plant sources provide a good amount of Vitamin B complex.
Harithakadi Lehya:
The nutritional supplement comprises of
Cassia angustifolia - Senna
Vitis vinifera - Kodimunthiri
Terminalia chebula - Kadukai
The supplement can be used by all without any side effects. It prevents constipation and promotes easy bowel movements. The laxative effect was scientifically proved with experimental animals. The lehya improved the bowel activity. The standard drug used was Durcolax which is a purgative. The effect of the lehya proved to be a laxative and not a purgative.
Krinikatukah:
The herbal dust was prepared to ward of insects that attack paper. It has been put to use in the library and proves to be a good insect repellent.
Fresh-O-Fresh:
The Aloe based facial cream prepared in the Herbal research Division was found to possess Antifungal properties and hence skin friendly.
The components of the cream are
Cassia auriculata ¨CAvaram
Decolourised Curcumin
Aloe vera -Sothukathazhai
The cosmetic industries are launching herbal based products in the market as result of the awareness among people about the ill effects of chemical cosmetics. The herbal cosmetics do not produce any side effects or allergies. Our facial cream has proven to improve the complexion and protects the skin from fungal infections.
Vrana Lepa:
The Ointment was prepared with the following ingredients
Curcuma longa -(Manjal)
Rubia cordifolia -(Manjitti)
Datura stramonium -(Karu oomathi)
Melia azadarach -(Vepampattai)
Acacia catechu. -(Karungali)
Aloe vera -(Sothukathazhai)
The combination of these plants was evaluated for wound healing activity on excision wounds of albino rats. Equal quantities of the plant materials (10gm each) were finely powdered. Mixed 50gm of purified bee¡¯s wax with 60 ml of sesame oil. Boiled the wax removed from heat and added the powdered plant materials to the mixture. 10 gm of Aloe gel was added and stirred continuously till an ointment consistency was obtained.
The ointment was used to treat excision wounds and burn wounds in both normal and diabetic rats. The wounds healed completely within a span of 15 days. The healing process was faster when compared to the group treated with a standard drug soframycin.
II. Developed and standardized cultivation methods for 4 well known commercially viable plants suitable for Trichy District through the project funded by Department of Biotechnology (DBT), New Delhi.
1.Catharanthus roseus - Nithyakalyani (Periwinkle)
2.Phyllanthus amarus - kilanelli
3.Aloe vera - Katthalai (Aloes)
4.Pogostemon patchouli - kathirpatchai (Patchouli)
III. Studies on Ayurvedic Bhasmas and metallic contents of few medicinal Plants :
Besides, in our Research division standardization studies of Ayurvedic Bhasmas ¨C YASADA BHASMA was also carried out. This study scientifically proved the enhanced Bioavailability of the Bhasma which is mainly due to its small particle size. Zinc is converted into its detoxified form due to treatment with various plants and continuous calcinations. The observations were interesting and light were thrown on the impact of various purification methods in the detoxification process
Elemental composition of some traditional medicinal plants that are widely used in the treatment of various disorders has been studied using Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS). They are Manathakkali, Dhavanam, Thuduvalai and Murungai.
COLLABORATIVE PROGRAMMES
Product Development
o A Neem based bio fertilizer developed and validated scientifically for ¡°Neemtek Organic Products Ltd, Mumbai¡±.
o Agro techniques for Aloe vera, Cynodon dactylon . Eclipta alba, and Acacia nilotica were standardized and given to ¡°Aravind laboratories, West Mambalam, Chennai ¨C 33¡±
o Developed successful Micropropagation protocols for cultivating Caralluma fimbriata for ¡°Greenchem Private Limited, Bangalore¡±.
o Developed standard Phytochemical method for isolating Alkaloids from Alangium salvifolium and Achyranthus aspera for ¡°Greenchem Private Limited, Bangalore¡±.
o Following Herbal based products were standardized for ¡°Dollar Company Private Limited, Chennai¡±
¡ì Face to Face cream
¡ì Rheumensa ointment
¡ì Kwikeal ointment
¡ì Hadensa capsules
o Services offered for creating Herbal Garden near the Siddha unit of the Government Hospital at Kulithalai for Lions club of Kulithalai.
|
