| Peer-Reviewed

Conservation Efforts of an Important Medicinal Plant (Taxus baccata Linn.) in West Kameng District of Arunachal Pradesh (India)

Received: 5 January 2015     Accepted: 10 January 2015     Published: 3 March 2015
Views:       Downloads:
Abstract

Taxus is a small to medium sized tree, with red ‘berries’ (seed covered by arils), valuable for taxol or paclitaxel extraction used in the preparation of anti-cancer drugs (breast cancer and ovarian cancer), kaposi’s sarcoma (an AIDS related cancer) and over 20 such other indications. It is an evergreen tree found in the temperate forests with an altitude ranging between 1500 m to 3000 m. The worldwide demand of the taxol is 800–1000 kg annually. Around 2 to 3 million kg of biomass is harvested annually where as the sustainable rate of harvesting is estimated to be 0.6 million kg per year. Although, the endophytes isolated from the Taxus when cultured in the medium are found to grow taxol, but the rate is very low. The maximum occurrence and high exploitation of Taxus has been reported from West Kameng district of Arunahal Pradesh, until the prohibition on its export through listing under Negative Lists of Exports by Government of India in 1996. Random linear transacts in the deep forests recorded a total of 145 Taxus plants. Out of which, 105 are dead trees and only 38 are live plants. Among the 38 live plants 20 are seedlings, 14 are saplings and 4 are full grown trees – one each near Sanglem and New Bomdila and another two between Ramda and Palizi. Therefore, conservation efforts like workshops, seminars, talks, distribution of pamphlets, pasting of posters and mass plantation has been organized by involving the villagers. The study attempts to explore the current status of Taxus in the aftermath of large scale trade occurred during 1990s and generate community awareness for conservation and regeneration of the important medicinal plant.

Published in Earth Sciences (Volume 4, Issue 3-1)

This article belongs to the Special Issue Conservation of Taxus Spp. (Yew)

DOI 10.11648/j.earth.s.2015040301.11
Page(s) 1-10
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2015. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Conservation, Taxus, Cancer, Taxol, Workshops

References
[1] D. Phillips, D. B. Dwyer and Dabur Research Foundation, “Sustainable harvesting of Himalayan yews,” in Medicinal plant trade in Europe: conservation and supply, TRAFFIC EUROPE, Eds. Cambridge: Europe, 1998, pp. 147-154.
[2] Z. Saqib, R. N. Malik, and S. Z. Husain, “Modeling potential distribution of Taxus wallichiana in Palas Valley, Pakistan.” Pak. J. Bot., vol. 38(3), pp. 539–542, 2006.
[3] B. S. Beniwal and K. Haridasan, “Natural Distribution and status of regeneration of Gymnosperms in Arunachal Pradesh,” Ind. Forester, vol. 118, pp. 96–101, 1992.
[4] S. K. Nandi and L. M. S. Palni, “Common Yew – a Himalayan assets under threat: Successful rooting of cuttings,” Hema-Paryavaran, vol. 5, pp. 8–9, 1993.
[5] G. P.Shukla, K. Rao and K. Haridasan, “Taxus baccata in Arunachal Pradesh,” Arunachal Forest News, vol. 12(1), pp. 1–7, 1994.
[6] K. C. Sahni, Gymnosperms of India and adjacent countries. BSMPS Publishers: Dehradun, 1990.
[7] M. C. Wani, H. L. Taylor, M. E. Wall, P. Cogon and A. T. Mcphail, “Plant antitumor agents. VI. Isolation and structure of taxol, a novel antileukemic and antitumor agent from Taxus brevifolia,” J. Am. Chem. Soc., vol. 93, pp. 1325–1327, 1976.
[8] A. Purohit, R. K. Maikhuri, K. S. Rao and S. Nautiyal, “Impact of bark removal on survival of Taxus baccata L. (Himalayan yew) in Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve, Garhwal Himalaya, India,” Curr. Sci., vol. 81(5), pp. 586–590, 2001.
[9] A. Stierle, G. Strobel and D. Stierle, “Taxol and taxane production by Taxomyces andreanae, an endophytic funguan of Pacific Yew,” Sci., vol. 260, pp. 214–222, 1993.
[10] J. Ge, W. Ping and D. Zhou, “Characterization of a New Species of Taxol-producing Fungus,” Nature Sci., vol. 2, pp. 85–88, 2004.
[11] S. I. Cameron and R. F. Smith, “In Bringing ‘Blue Sky Biology’ Down to Earth: Linking Natural Products Research with Commercialization,” in Proc. 29th Annual Meeting of the Plant Growth Regulation Society of America, N. S. Halifax, Eds., 2002, pp. 31-39.
[12] G. A. Strobel, W. M. Hess, E. Ford, R. S. Sidhu and X. Yang, “Taxol from fungal endophytes and the issues of biodiversity,” J. Ind. Microbiol., vol. 17, pp. 417–423, 1996.
[13] J. F. Wang, “Taxol from Tubercularia sp. Strain TF5 an endophytic fungus of Taxus mairei,” FEMS Microbiol. Letters, vol. 193, pp. 2223–2226, 2000.
[14] D. P. Zhou, et al, “Nolulisporium, a genus new to China,” Mycosystema, vol. 20, pp. 148–150, 2001.
[15] J. Y. Li, G. A. Strobel, R. Sidhu, W. M. Hess and E. Ford, “Endophytic taxol producing fungi from bald cypress Taxodium distichum,” Microbiol., vol. 142, pp. 2223–2226, 1996.
[16] B. H. Guo, Y. C. Wang, X. W. Zhou, K. Hu, F. Tan, Z. Q. Miao and K. X. Tang, “An endophytic taxol-producing fungus BT2 isolated from Taxus chinensis var. Mairei,” Afr. J. Biotechnol., vol. 5, pp. 875–877, 2006.
[17] F. Xu, W. Tao, L. Chang and L. Gou, “Strain improvement and optimization of the media of taxol-producing fungus Fusarium maire,” Biochem. Engineering J., vol. 31, pp. 67–73, 2006.
[18] J. I. Yuan, B. I. Jian-Nan, Y. Bing and Z. Xu-Dong, “Taxol-producing fungi: a new approach to industrial production of taxol,” Chin.J. Biotechnol., vol. 22, pp. 1–6, 2006.
[19] B. V. S. K. Chakravarthi, P. Das, K. Surendranath, A. A. Karande and C. Jayabaskaran, “Production of paclitaxel by Fusarium solani isolated from Taxus celebica,” J. Biosci., vol. 33, pp. 259–267, 2008.
[20] D. Frense, “Taxanes: perspective for biotechnological production,” Applied Microbiol. Biotechnol., vol. 73, pp. 1233–1240, 2007.
[21] V. Gangadevi, M. Murugan J. And Muthumary, “Taxol Determination from Pestalotiopsis pauciseta, a Fungal Endophyte of a Medicinal Plant,” Chin. J.Biotechnol., vol. 24, pp. 1433–1438, 2008.
[22] S. K. Nandi, L. M. S. Palni and H. C. Rikhari, “Chemical induction of adventitious root formation in Taxus baccata cuttings,” Plant Growth Regulation, vol. 19, pp. 117–122, 2006.
[23] A. Khanna, “Himalayan Yew to fight Cancer,” Down to Earth, vol. 2, p. 41, 1994.
[24] A. Agarwal, and G. Srivastava, “Forest destruction in Eastern Himalayas,” Curr. Sci., vol. 94(1), pp. 8, 2008.
[25] R. Kanade, M. Tadwalkar, C. Kushalappa and A. Patwardhan, “Vegetation composition and woody species diversity at Chamoli NP, North Western Ghats, India,” Curr. Sci., vol. 95(5), pp. 637–646, 2008.
[26] P. Pokhriyal, V. Naithani, S. Dasgupta, and N. P. Todaria, “Comparative studies on species richness, diversity and composition of Anogeissus latifolius mixed forests in Phakot and Pathri Rao watersheds of Garhwal Himalaya,” Curr. Sci., vol. 97(9), pp. 1349–1355, 2009.
[27] G. Piovesan, E. P. Saba, F. Biondi, A. Alessandrini, A. Filippo and B. Schirone, “Population ecology of yew (Taxus baccata L.) In the Central Apennines: spatial patterns and their relevance for conservation strategies,” Plant Ecol., DOI 10.1007/s11258-009-9596-1, 2009.
[28] R. T. Busing, C. B. Halpern and T. A. Spies, “Ecology of Pacific yew (Taxus brevifolia) in western Oregon and Washington,” Conserv. Biol., vol. 9, pp. 1199–1207, 1995.
[29] C. Kwit, C. C. Horvitz and W. J. Platt, “Conserving slow-growing, long-lived tree species: input from the demography of a rare understory conifer, Taxus floridana,” Conserv. Biol., vol. 18, pp. 432–443, 2004.
[30] R. P. Khali, Ecological studies on Taxus baccata Linn. In relation to regeneration and conservation, Ph D Thesis, FRI Deemed University, Dehradun, 2001.
Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Gibji Nimasow, Oyi Dai Nimasow, Jawan Singh Rawat, Leki Norbu. (2015). Conservation Efforts of an Important Medicinal Plant (Taxus baccata Linn.) in West Kameng District of Arunachal Pradesh (India). Earth Sciences, 4(3-1), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.earth.s.2015040301.11

    Copy | Download

    ACS Style

    Gibji Nimasow; Oyi Dai Nimasow; Jawan Singh Rawat; Leki Norbu. Conservation Efforts of an Important Medicinal Plant (Taxus baccata Linn.) in West Kameng District of Arunachal Pradesh (India). Earth Sci. 2015, 4(3-1), 1-10. doi: 10.11648/j.earth.s.2015040301.11

    Copy | Download

    AMA Style

    Gibji Nimasow, Oyi Dai Nimasow, Jawan Singh Rawat, Leki Norbu. Conservation Efforts of an Important Medicinal Plant (Taxus baccata Linn.) in West Kameng District of Arunachal Pradesh (India). Earth Sci. 2015;4(3-1):1-10. doi: 10.11648/j.earth.s.2015040301.11

    Copy | Download

  • @article{10.11648/j.earth.s.2015040301.11,
      author = {Gibji Nimasow and Oyi Dai Nimasow and Jawan Singh Rawat and Leki Norbu},
      title = {Conservation Efforts of an Important Medicinal Plant (Taxus baccata Linn.) in West Kameng District of Arunachal Pradesh (India)},
      journal = {Earth Sciences},
      volume = {4},
      number = {3-1},
      pages = {1-10},
      doi = {10.11648/j.earth.s.2015040301.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.earth.s.2015040301.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.earth.s.2015040301.11},
      abstract = {Taxus is a small to medium sized tree, with red ‘berries’ (seed covered by arils), valuable for taxol or paclitaxel extraction used in the preparation of anti-cancer drugs (breast cancer and ovarian cancer), kaposi’s sarcoma (an AIDS related cancer) and over 20 such other indications. It is an evergreen tree found in the temperate forests with an altitude ranging between 1500 m to 3000 m. The worldwide demand of the taxol is 800–1000 kg annually. Around 2 to 3 million kg of biomass is harvested annually where as the sustainable rate of harvesting is estimated to be 0.6 million kg per year. Although, the endophytes isolated from the Taxus when cultured in the medium are found to grow taxol, but the rate is very low. The maximum occurrence and high exploitation of Taxus has been reported from West Kameng district of Arunahal Pradesh, until the prohibition on its export through listing under Negative Lists of Exports by Government of India in 1996. Random linear transacts in the deep forests recorded a total of 145 Taxus plants. Out of which, 105 are dead trees and only 38 are live plants. Among the 38 live plants 20 are seedlings, 14 are saplings and 4 are full grown trees – one each near Sanglem and New Bomdila and another two between Ramda and Palizi. Therefore, conservation efforts like workshops, seminars, talks, distribution of pamphlets, pasting of posters and mass plantation has been organized by involving the villagers. The study attempts to explore the current status of Taxus in the aftermath of large scale trade occurred during 1990s and generate community awareness for conservation and regeneration of the important medicinal plant.},
     year = {2015}
    }
    

    Copy | Download

  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Conservation Efforts of an Important Medicinal Plant (Taxus baccata Linn.) in West Kameng District of Arunachal Pradesh (India)
    AU  - Gibji Nimasow
    AU  - Oyi Dai Nimasow
    AU  - Jawan Singh Rawat
    AU  - Leki Norbu
    Y1  - 2015/03/03
    PY  - 2015
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.earth.s.2015040301.11
    DO  - 10.11648/j.earth.s.2015040301.11
    T2  - Earth Sciences
    JF  - Earth Sciences
    JO  - Earth Sciences
    SP  - 1
    EP  - 10
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2328-5982
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.earth.s.2015040301.11
    AB  - Taxus is a small to medium sized tree, with red ‘berries’ (seed covered by arils), valuable for taxol or paclitaxel extraction used in the preparation of anti-cancer drugs (breast cancer and ovarian cancer), kaposi’s sarcoma (an AIDS related cancer) and over 20 such other indications. It is an evergreen tree found in the temperate forests with an altitude ranging between 1500 m to 3000 m. The worldwide demand of the taxol is 800–1000 kg annually. Around 2 to 3 million kg of biomass is harvested annually where as the sustainable rate of harvesting is estimated to be 0.6 million kg per year. Although, the endophytes isolated from the Taxus when cultured in the medium are found to grow taxol, but the rate is very low. The maximum occurrence and high exploitation of Taxus has been reported from West Kameng district of Arunahal Pradesh, until the prohibition on its export through listing under Negative Lists of Exports by Government of India in 1996. Random linear transacts in the deep forests recorded a total of 145 Taxus plants. Out of which, 105 are dead trees and only 38 are live plants. Among the 38 live plants 20 are seedlings, 14 are saplings and 4 are full grown trees – one each near Sanglem and New Bomdila and another two between Ramda and Palizi. Therefore, conservation efforts like workshops, seminars, talks, distribution of pamphlets, pasting of posters and mass plantation has been organized by involving the villagers. The study attempts to explore the current status of Taxus in the aftermath of large scale trade occurred during 1990s and generate community awareness for conservation and regeneration of the important medicinal plant.
    VL  - 4
    IS  - 3-1
    ER  - 

    Copy | Download

Author Information
  • Department of Geography, Rajiv Gandhi University, Doimukh, Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh, India

  • Department of Botany, Rajiv Gandhi University, Doimukh, Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh, India

  • Department of Geography, Government Degree College, Chaukhutia, Uttarakhand, India

  • Department of Geography, Government College, Bomdila, Arunachal Pradesh, India

  • Sections