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About Bamboo Plants & Their Uses

Framers Leader "Dev Dhawal". कृषक अगुवा "देव धवल"·Saturday, 2 March 20194 reads

Bamboo Plants :

Introduction :

Bamboos is a large woody grasses that belonging to the family Poaceae. This ancient woody grass widely found in tropical, subtropical and mild temperate zones of the world. It is a tremendously diverse plant, which have the capacity to adapt any extreme climatic and soil conditions. There are about 90 genera and about 1200 species of bamboo found in the world. Most of the bamboos are found in forestry and it also widely spread outside forests usually farmlands, riverbanks, roadsides and rural areas. Bamboo is a long stick like non-wood forest product and sometimes used as wood substitute. Moreover, as it is found any regions of the world and plays an important economic role. Even though it is used for housing, crafts, pulp, paper, panels, boards, veneer, flooring, roofing, fabrics and vegetable (the bamboo shoot). Products of bamboos are using everywhere and bamboo industries are now thriving in Asia and are quickly expanding across the continents to Africa and America1.

In Bangladesh, there are 26 species of bamboo under seven genera including natural and cultivated exotics2. Bamboo has lot of beneficial impact for alleviating many of the social and environmental problems in many countries3. It has been act as natural protection of environment restoration and in the production of household handicrafts, arte facts and furniture. Bamboo product like bamboo-ply, laminated boards, flooring, roofing sheets, props and many others, have been key wood substitutes of bamboo in the construction and fencing industry world-wide. Moreover, it also used as medicines, food, charcoal, vinegar, beverages, natural pesticides, and toiletries4. It is utilized as wood in construction work, furniture, utensils, fibre and paper. Bamboo charcoal produces three times as porous as wood and releases more energy and gives us huge fuel backup. Bamboo shoots are also delicious to eat and the young leaves provide feedstuff for animals5. It is a likely demanding species and mostly occurs in pure stands, also mixed with other vegetation6. The shoots from stem develop during the premonsoon and grow during the rainy season. Elongation of the bamboo plant takes place during the rainy season and it continues still the post rainy season7. Lack of reliable, comprehensive data on bamboo resources and utilization hampers their sustainable development and limits their potential to contribute to poverty reduction1. However, the using potentiality of bamboo remains unexploited. Literature on the nutritional and medicinal potential of bamboo shoots is scarce.

Uses as food :

A bamboo shoot is the new gentle growth of the stem apex into a young culm consisting of compressed internodes sheltered by a number of leathery sheaths. The shoots are usually harvested when they attain the height of 15-16 cm. After eliminating the fibrous sheaths the inner tender portion or meat has been thoroughly washed in water and then cut into pieces. The pieces are usually eaten as vegetable components in curry or soup by mixing with fish or meat and also as pickle. Shoots of both running (monopodial) and clump forming (sympodial) bamboos are utilized as food. In Northern China and Japan, the monopodial bamboo species such as phyllostachys edulis, p. mitis, p. pubescens are most common and prepared delicious bamboo shoot8. However, plantation of bamboo should be encouraged and promoted due to their high value, productivity, uniformity of crop, choice of species linked to peoples’ and industrial need. It is estimated that bamboo plants constitutes about 13% of the total forest area of the India. About 50% of International Science Congress Association 58

bamboo produced in North Eastern region and West Bengal of India. It is also estimated that India has the second largest bamboo reserves in the world after China9. Various palatable species and interesting food products (fermented shoots, pickle, etc.) and guidelines of bamboo shoots (bamboo beer, bamboo cookies) are consumed all over the world. Different species of bamboo shoots have varieties of nutritional composition. Bamboo shoot used as food in traditional ways by the tribal community the in deferent countries. Bamboo shoots are used as a good source of dietary fiber, low in fat and calories for human being10. Bamboo shoots contain high protein but less fat, moderate dietary fiber, having essential amino acids, selenium, potassium, a potent antioxidant and minerals for healthy heart. Besides all the versatile uses of bamboo, people has been using shoots of this plant as one of his food items since prehistoric days when they were ignorant about vegetable growing. Young shoots of several species of bamboo are used as important vegetable in the daily meals in China, Japan, Taiwan and Thailand. These young bamboo shoots have been considered as gourmet items in the western world where these are available only as imported canned products8. They can be stir-fried alone or mixed with other vegetables with or without meat and with very little oil. Bamboo juice is also used in recipes. To get some delicious effect, it needs to extract moisture from the roots, particularly those that are a little sweet11. Soft drink, bamboo wine also prepared from bamboo shoot12. Moreover, nutritional value of bamboo shoots is different between species and within the same species based on local conditions. Generally the nutritional values are more or less similar. Nutritional value for bamboo shoots, cooked, boiled, with salt bamboo shoots is rich and they contains about 18 amino acids13 and it also contains 96% moisture14.

Uses as medicine :

From the ancient and using the traditional knowledge, pharmaceutical preparations of bamboo shoots like bamboo salt, bamboo vinegar, bamboo extracts are using to control diabetes and keep the cholesterol level within normal limit15. Bamboos and bamboos extract has been utilized in Korea for traditional treatment to relieve hypertension, sweating and paralysis. It has been established that bamboo extract have antioxidant activities and anti-inflammatory effects16, 17. Bambusa arundinacea is highly reputed ayurvedic medicinal plant. Various parts of this plant such as leaf, root, shoot and seed possess antiinflammatory, antiulcer, anti-diabetic, anti-oxidant, anthelmintic and astringent activity. Various phyto-pharmacological evaluations have been reported for the important potential of the Bambusa arundinacea18.

The root (burnt root) is applied to ringworm, bleeding gums and arthritis. Bark is used for skin eruptions. Leaf has a property of antileprotic and anticoagulation activities that can be used in haemoptysis19. Seeds are acrid, laxative, said to be beneficial in strangury and urinary discharges20. The combination of herbal product (methanol extract of Bambusa arundinacea) with modern medicine (NSAIAs) will produce the best anti-inflammatory drug and will be useful for long-term treatment of chronic inflammatory conditions like rheumatoid arthritis with peptic ulcer21. Bambusa arundinacea seed has shown statistically significant anti-diabetic activity as like the standard glibenclamide22. Furthermore, bamboo-derived pyrolyzates have been proposed to have antimicrobial and antifungal activities23 and to protect neurons from oxidative stress24. Bamboo extract pyrolyzates may have anti-apoptotic effects and can be useful as a supplement for ischemic injury treatment25. The tender shoots of Bambusa bambos are reported to enhance appetite and help in digestion. Buds of Bambusa bambos are reported to have estrogenic activity. Extract of the bud has shown antifertility activity in rats26 and very soft shoots of this species are used for birth control27 in north Lakhimpur, Assam, India. It is also reported that bamboo shoots have cancer prevention properties and effective in decreasing blood pressure, cholesterol and increasing appetite28. Bambusa bambose L. leaves extract possess broad spectrum antibacterial properties and can be used for the most common bacterial diseases. These promissory extracts open the possibility of new clinically effective antibacterial compounds29. Modern research has revealed that bamboo shoots have a number of health benefits such as: improving appetite and digestion, weight loss, curing cardiovascular diseases, antioxidant activities and antiinflammatory effects30.

Chemical compositions :

The different parts of this plant contain silica, cholin, betain, cynogenetic glycosides, albuminoids, oxalic acid, reducing sugar, resins, waxes, benzoic acid, arginine, cysteine, histidine, niacin, riboflavin, thiamine, protein, gluteline, lysine, methionine, proteolytic enzyme, nuclease, urease18. The silicious substance found inside the bud joint and it is white camphor like crystalline in appearance, slightly sticky to the tongue and sweet in taste31,32. Moreover, shoot has active constituents those are oxalic acid, reducing sugar, resins, waxes, HCN, benzoic acid33. Seed contain arginine, cysteine, histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylamine, threonine, valine, tyrosine, niacin, riboflavin and thiamine. Similarly, leaves mainly contain protein, gluteline, lysine, methionine, betain, cholin, proteolytic enzyme, nuclease, urease34. It has been noted that the bamboo plant has unusually high levels of acetylcholine (which acts as a neurotransmitter in animals and humans; its role in plants is as yet unknown), especially in some portions of the plant (e.g., upper part of the bamboo shoot)35. Occurrence of taxiphyllin, a cyanogenic glycoside in raw shoots, and it have harmful effect on human health calls for the demand to innovate processing ways using scientific input to eliminate the toxic compound without disturbing the nutrient reserve15.

Conclusion

Bamboo plant usually uses for making houses in sub-urban and rural areas. It is also, used as raw materials of different house

hold products, production of paper and useful handicrafts. Bamboo shoot has been suing one of the delicious vegetable in different countries. Research has revealed that bamboo shoots have a number of health benefits. So, it is necessary to promote bamboo cultivation through appropriate methods. As well as verify the impacts of the plants extract in human body as traditional medicine by using modern technology for further recommendation.

Why Bamboo Is More Stronger Than Steel Reinforcement?

* Bamboo is Stronger Than Steel

Bamboo has quite high tensile strength. It is comparable with steel.Apart from this, bamboo has an impermeable protective layer on the outer side which protects it from rotting due to water, which is a major problem for almost all organic material.

*Use of Bamboo and Its Strength

Now in civil engineering many people are using bamboo in place of steel for reinforcement, but bamboo is an excellent choice for reinforcement in concrete because of its higher strength as compared to steel by weight, the tensile strength Bamboo’s tensile strength is roughly 28,000 per square inch versus steel’s 23,000.Bamboo is stronger more than 6 times of steel reinforcement,On comparison, the energy needed to produce steel is almost 50 times that of this natural product. In tensile load application, results shown by bamboo are exciting because the ratio of tensile strength to specific weight of bamboo is six times greater than steel.

*Using Bamboo In Structures

Bamboo plants require no pesticides or fertilizers to grow and need little water to sustain, although they do not tolerate completely dry or waterlogged conditions, and if grown in pots bamboo do need more care.

Bamboo is popular as an evergreen garden plant and makes fantastic ornamental focal points, specimen plants, privacy screens, hedging, windbreaks, ground cover, and landscape design features in the domestic garden or on a commercial level.

With well over a thousand species; there is a vast range of bamboo plants extending from tiny dwarf varieties, to medium and tall bamboo for the garden, right up to gigantic 'timber bamboo' type species.

Bamboo plants grow successfully in the northern hemisphere and southern hemisphere, in a range of climatic conditions that includes cool temperate climates and hot tropical places.

Although it's a little more complicated than this, the two main different types within bamboo species are basically; running bamboo (Monopodial) and clumping bamboo (Sympodial). It's important that you choose the right type for your garden or landscape project.

If you are looking for an ornamental bamboo plant for a focal point in your garden and have a certain area of space to allocate to this as a structural planting, be sure to choose a 'clumping' bamboo.

Several clumping bamboos set at certain distances apart will make an equally effective windbreak or hedge but will grow in clumps rather than spread by sending rhizome runners underground.

If on the other hand you are planning on planting for a windbreak or privacy screen of bamboo, a running species will fill that up nicely but you will need to put a barrier in place to make sure it only grows where you want it to.

Choosing Bamboo Species

Bamboo plants often get a very bad press but this is only due to the wrong type of species being planted in the wrong environment.

Running species spread rapidly once established and this causes some despair where these types have been planted in small domestic garden situations and has since got out of control. Gardeners and their neighbours can have a nightmare on their hands if they have planted running bamboo without a rhizome barrier of any kind.

There is no need to plant the wrong type of bamboo as there are so many species to choose from and plenty of clumping types that will not dive under your fence into the neighbour's garden!

Hopefully you have come to this site to choose bamboo plants not to find out how to get rid of them. However, if you do need to get some sort of control over an existing bamboo plant there are links further down this page that take you to other pages on the subject of controlling bamboo.

For hardiness in cold climates choose hardy species that will survive the winters.

Clumping Bamboo

Clumping bamboo does not send out runners, it stays in a tight clump, grows very slowly in comparison to running bamboo, and therefore makes a better choice for a non-invasive garden plant.

Golden Bamboo

Phyllostachys aurea

Golden Bamboo Plants - Phyllostachys aurea

The clumping species of bamboos have a different rhizome system to the running species and they grow in a way that looks similar to inverted umbrellas normally producing new shoots yearly. The circumference of a maturing plant will grow bigger each year but by small amounts and very slowly.

Even though clumping bamboos do grow in a different way to running species, the clumps do still grow in size and the larger species such as Chusquea gigantea need a significant amount of room as they reach maturity. You therefore you need to choose a planting spot carefully while taking note that bamboo plants of the clumping type need plenty of growing space. Don't plant bamboos too near to fences, walls, or other types of structures to allow a certain amount of annual growth and widening of the diameter of the clump.

Clumping bamboos can successfully be grown in containers with the correct care although they do grow better and stay healthier when allowed to grow free in the soil. See my page on container bamboo about caring for bamboo grown in containers. When the rhizome, or root, system is contained and it grows too big for its container, and the plant has not been potted on into a larger container when required, bamboo is a plant that may break your pot eventually.

The rhizomes of running bamboo plants species spread out very quickly, and often aggressively. Running types of bamboo are therefore ideal for creating a windbreak or privacy wall by planting for the purpose of hedging or garden privacy using a screen provided you are prepared to put in a barrier to contain the running species.

Chimonobambusa Tumidissinoda is a vigorous running bamboo plant that needs control

Chimonobambusa tumidissinoda

Running Bamboo Species

If putting in a barrier isn't something you can do, or want to do, you can get the same effect by just planting clumping bamboo at distances to suit the size of the chosen species.

If you want your screen or windbreak to establish quickly you will need to acquire enough plants and plant them at regular distances apart. Buying one plant and expecting it to grow into a massive dense windbreak in one year will not work, bamboo plants need to be given time to mature and send out running rhizomes. For a high speed screen, buy a few large plants and direct the rhizome growth so they can spread to eventually meet each other and fill the gaps.

If you are prepared to wait a few years for your windbreak or hedge to grow you won't need to buy so many plants initially. As your bamboo plants spread, provided you ensure you control their growth in the direction you want them to grow, you will eventually get a good screen. Be warned that it could take a long time though. Depending on the health of the plants, the growing and environmental conditions, bamboos do not always take off immediately and it can take a few seasons for them to establish to maturity