Cultivation of Dollar Earning Cumin Crop for Higher Income

AK Verma*, Ravindra Singh, Sharda Choudhary and Gopal Lal

ICAR- National Research Centre on Seed Spices, Ajmer, Rajasthan, India

*Corresponding Author: AK Verma, ICAR- National Research Centre on Seed Spices, Ajmer, Rajasthan, India.

Received: December 20, 2017; Published: February 16, 2018

Citation: AK Verma., et al. “Cultivation of Dollar Earning Cumin Crop for Higher Income". Acta Scientific Agriculture 2.3 (2018).

  Cumin (Cuminum cyminum) is an annual herbaceous spice cum medicinal plant. It is belongs to family apiaceae and have basic chromosome number 2n = 14. The total area under cumin is around 0.76 million ha with the production of 0.49 million tonnes during 2016 - 17. A total volume of 1,19,000 tonnes of cumin valued at Rs. 1963 crore was exported from India in 2016 - 17. Cumin seeds are used in cooking and the oil is used to flavor food and scent cosmetics. Cumin is a major component of curry and chili powders and has been used to flavor a variety of commercial food products. The oil, which is derived by steam distillation, is used to flavor alcoholic beverages, desserts, and condiments. It is also used as a fragrant component of creams, lotions, and perfumes. In Ayurvedic system of medicine, dried cumin seeds are used for therapeutic purposes. It is known for its activities like enhancing appetite, taste perception, digestion, vision, strength and lactation. It is used to treat diseases like fever, loss of appetite, diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal distension, edema and puerperal disorders. The typical pleasant aroma of the seeds is due to their volatile oil content, the principal constituent of which is cuminaldehyde. Cumin is believed to be native of Mediterranean region, mainly cultivated in India, Egypt, Libya, Iran, Pakistan, Mexico and Japan. In India, it is mainly cultivated in the states of Rajasthan and Gujarat.

Copyright: © 2018 AK Verma., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.