CHAPTER 2

MATERIALS AND METHODS

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The materials and methods utilized for the present Ethnobotanical

investigation among the Muthuvan tribal population of Devikulam taluk showing

the area of study, general information about the district, annual rainfall, major crops

cultivated with area in production, methods for data collection, preparation of

herbarium, ayurvedic indications, preliminary phytochemical studies, bio -c hemical

quantifications and list of Muthuvan settlements in the taluk are given below.

2.1 AREA OF STUDY

The ethnobo tanical data for the present investigation are collected from

Devikulam taluk of Idukki district, Kerala state. Devikulam taluk lies approximately

within 9. 20" to 10. 200 North latitude and 76. 30" to 77. 30" East longitudes, with

a total area of 1329 sq. km. According to 2001 census, the total population of the

Idukki district is 1 1,2 8,605. Devikulam taluk is inhabited by various ethnic groups

like Mannan, Muthuvan, Oorali, Mulayuraya and Hill-Pulaya and the tot a1

Muihuvan popul tion of the taluk is 9934. The area of the study is depicted in aw?

maps 1,2 4 3. The general information about the district are provided in

tables 1,2 and 3, obtained from the Department of Public Relations, Govt. of Kerala.

District

Area (in Sq. km)

Po pulat iop

Males

Females

Sex ratio : Females/1000

Density of Population

Idukki

5019

I 1,128,605

contd....

Per Capita Income (in Rs)

Literacy rate

Male

Female

Coastal line in km.

Water bodied area in ha.

Forest area in ha.

I . 92.11%;

85.04%

' Nil

260907 t''L

<, 1' Table - 1

'-=? Monthly rninfan (mml,&.< '-

p"I I

<-.-. .-.:

Table - 2

Major Agricultural Products

Products k k .. ,.

Rice

Dec

40.8

Sugar Cane

Ginger

Nov

56.2

Cardamom

Cashewnut

Tapioca

Sep

223.2

Month

Rakfid

Coconut

Oct

170

Arecanut

Tea

Coffee

Jan

9.2

Mar

7.6

Rubber

Feb

95.5

Apr

115.5

Area under cultivation (ha.) Production in tonne

May

189.8

20830 78 million

Jul

407

Jun

899

37726 43380 - - , ' (" ,kc 0 r7 :,;.gj- P'. .C

Table- 3 ,: . --- --;./ '-f . cs '..

g .--.-1,r - , -'

Aug

1011

The Muthuvans of Devikularn taluk are found in 77 settlements within

six Panchayaths. Thc table l'contains the names of the settlements, names of the

Panchayaths and number of families in each settlement. The investigator was a Field

Oficer of the Spices Board, Government of India, Ministry of Commerce and

Industry at Adimaly from 1990 to 2000. The jurisdiction of the office was

Devikulam taluk. As part of discharging duty the investigator had ample opportunity

to visit all the tribal .'7 settlements in the taluk and to establish a good rapport with ajrl a

them. This linkckas helped him a lot in collecting the ethnobotanical data during the

investigation fiorn 2000 to 2004.

2.2 DATA COLLECTION

All the data were collected through repeated field visits to the settlements

and careful interact ion with the Muthuvans. Participatory rural appraisal and semi-

structured interviews were employed to generate data on socio-cultural and other

economic aspects, present and past ways of life, details on present occupation and

plant species cultivated.The investigator visited the settlements during the festival

period, stayed in the Sarhram and recorded the events by participating in the

programmes. During the informal interviews with elders, herbalists, shamans and

others, questions were asked about the plants used for different purposes like

medicine, shelter, %el, fodder, fiber, artefacts and the information were recorded.

Later the plants were collected with the help of informants of the settlements. The

plants were brought back and verified for their names and uses with experienced

elders and herbalists. On many occasions the investigator had accompanied the

Muthuvans during their long forest journeys and with them having

the same food and drinks. This has helped @ aspects of tribal i,

life and photographing the procedures involved instarch extraction, tapping palms

and collection of forest products. The investigation is supported by 2 1 8 photographs

..,. _ _ presented in 25 plates. -. \,\

2.3 HERBARIUM

The plant specimens collected are made into Herbaria as per the

methodology laid down by Fosberg and Sachet (1 965) and Bridson and Forman

(1 99 1 ). The specimens were tentatively identified with the help of floras and later

confkmed with the help of authentically identified specimens of Calicut University Ce\<.yr,CI'

herbarium. The specimens- labelled with field data recorded during the field visits A

and the botanical names are worked out as per the inrernational code of botanical

nomenclature. Local tribal names recorded from the field are incorporated with 1 4, -, {-,

the specimens. All the herbarium together with the field data book&deposited in

the herbarium of the Department of Botany, Sacred Heart College, Tbevara, Cochin,

Kerala state.

2.4 AYURVEDIC INDICATIONS

Plants involved in single remedies ofthe Muthuvans are compared for

their use in Dravya Guna Sastra of the Ayurveda with the help ofBhava Prakashu

Nighantu (Chunekar, 1999) and Indian Medicinal Plants (Knthikar and Basu, 1987).

2.5 PRELIMINARY PHYTOCHEMICAL STUDIES

Preliminary p hytochemical studies were carried out on three Dio scorea

species used for food and fifteen medicinal plants as per procedure given by Brinda

et al. (1 98 1 ). Fifty grams of air-dried plant parts were successively extracted with - - Hexane, Benzene, Chloroform, Alcohol and Water. All the extracts were tested for

Steroid, Triterpenc, Sugar, Alkaloid, Phenol, Flavone, Catechin, Saponin and Tannin.

2.6 BIOCHEMICAL QUANTIFICATION

.,. . .. Total protgh was estimated following the method of Lowry et al. ( 1 95 1) " - - - \

-- -.. - an4 Khanna et al. (19691.'In this method, protein was estimated after precipitating

\\ C . - with?hcjdmo-a~iii&id. Bovine serum albumin (Sigma) was used as standard. All

d e t e d a t i o n s were carried out three times to permit standard evaluation. 2 ' . \ ?,,-:? # ?,!?

< - I ' 4"

,' < ' 1 - ".I , ..

; , 13 , -

$l.,~> , ' .*,.q, . ** y .a ( , . ' . ,

For the estimation of soluble sugar, samples were extracted with 5rnl. of

methanol. The residue was again extracted with 5 ml and the combined extract was

reduced to dryness. This was suspended in 5ml o f distilled water. An aliquot of 0.1

to 0.5 rnl solution was employed for the determination of soluble sugars by Anthrone

Colorimetric method (Mc Cready et a]., 1950). --." ,.r

Starch was extracted from the residue of the sample after extracting the

soluble sugar in Methano1,The residue was boilcd in water to extract the starch and

estimated by I, KI method (Mc Caready et a1.,1950). 1 C .

Total carbohydrates was estimated using the Anthrone method of Mc

Caready et a1.(1950). Carbohydrates are first hydrolysed into simple sugars using - diluted ~ c l : In hotGedj&media, --'. glucose is dehydrated to hydrowy furfural.

,; ;q -' +

2.7 LIST OF THE MUTHUVAN SETTLEMENTS IN DEVIKULAM TALUK

Thc investigation was carried out in the following Muthuvan tribal I' '

settlements of Devikulam taluk. The names of the settlements, panchayatbs and J' .. )

number of familes are included in table 4.

Name. Panchayath No. of families.

C hicknamku dy

Kallakkutt ukudy

Kampinikud y

~ozhivelakud~

Mangaparakudy

Parakudy

Perumakudy

14 contd ....

Shevalkudy

Sikukudy

Andavankudy

Asparakudy

Chappukattukudy

Chennayaiparakudy

Chesalamkudy

Edalaparakudy

Eruppukalkudy

Kandat hukudy

Kat takulikudy

Kavakattukudy

Kezhrnulakutharakudy

Kezhvalayamparakud y

Komalikudy

Kudallarkudy

Melvalayamparkudy

Menkuthykudy

Mulakutharakudy

Nelrnanalkudy

Nooradikudy

Parapparkudy

Pat harnkudy

Puthukudy

Shedukuduy

Susmavukudy

contd ....

Thenparkudy

Valiyakudy

Vazhakuthukudy

Vellakayamk udy

Lackamkudy

Kundalakudy

Eruttalakud y

KambEparakudy

Karnmalarnkudy

Karpurakudy

Kavakud y

Kuthukalluk udy

Mavalikud y

Nellipettykudy

Olikudy

Periyakudy

Puthukudy

Thayannankudy

Vellakallukud y

Vengaparakudy

Mangapara

Nakkupettikud i

Puthukudy

Susanikudy

Thktharnala

Marayo or

do

do

do

do

do

do

do

do

do

do

do

do

do

Kant ha110 or

do

. do

do

do

contd....

Kudallarkud y

Samiyarakudy

Melvalsampetty

Kezhvalsampetty

Kurat hikud y

Valiyampara

Muthassery

Emblassery

Kattamudy

Padikappu

Ozhavthadasm

Thatt akannan

Plamala

Njavalparakudy

Noorankara

Thalyurappan

Kul arnankuzhi

Anachal

Vat tavada

do

do

do

Adimali

do

do

do

do

do

do

do

do

do

do

do

do

do

Table - 4

. - . I I

-'

. . . . A ' - -5.

,-,- LOCATION MAP SHOWING THE STUDY AREA

1 DISTRICT

MAP - I

MAP OF I D U K K I DISTRICT

MAP - 2

MAP OF DEVIKULAM TALUK

Muthuvan Settlements

MANNAMKANDOM + .

MAP - 3