VETIVER OIL Vetiveria Zizanoides

Available Products:

Vetiver Absolute - Cultivated
Vetiver Attar - Organic
Vetiver Essential Oil (Hydro Distilled) - Wild Crafted Organic
Vetivert Oil (South Indian) - Cultivated

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Vetiver is cultivated in tropical and sub-tropical climates. It grows under high humidity and high temperature conditions. The vetiver growth is maximum in sandy loam soils rich in organic matter. It can, however, be grown in a variety of other soils ranging from normal to saline and Pure Vetiver Oil alkaline, sandy to clayey and water –logged to dry.

A perennial rhizomatous grass with erect clums. Leaves up to 2m long: ligule, a minute seavour rim. Flower in panicle of spiciform racemes. Panicles branches, usually contracted. Sessile spikelets laterally compressed, line lanceolate : pedicelled spikelets up to 0.6 cm long. Parts used: Roots, sourceof essential oil. Major constituents : The main constituents of vetiver oil is Khusimol, vetiselinenol, eudesmol vetivone and veticerol etc Uses : Vetiver oil is used perfumery as fixative and as odour stabilizer. Also used in flavouring tobacco, pan masala and soft drinks.

Vetiver Oil Specification
Botanical Name	Vetiveria Zizanoides
Source	It is obtained by the steam distillation of washed, sun dried root and rhizome of the herbaceous plant vetiveria zizanioides. It is amber colored to grayish brown, olive brown or dark brown viscous liquid
Color	Brownish viscus liquid
Specific Gravity	0.986 TO 1.011
Optical Rotation	+14° 10' TO +25°
Referactive Index	1.5210 TO 1.5300
Solubility	Soluble in alcohol and other organic solvents and insoluble in water.
Description	Extensively used as a raw material in perfumery as a fixative and odor contributor in bases such as fougere, chypre, modern woody-aldebyde, flavors

VETIVER(Khus) ATTAR

Vetiver oil is obtained by steam distillation of roots of vetiver (Vetiveria zizanioides). The oil is one of the finest oriental perfumes with a persistent fragrance. The oil is used in the manufacture of soaps, cosmetics, perfumery, agarbathis, soft drinks; pan masala etc. In blended perfumes oil of vetiver acts as an excellent fixatives for volatile compounds. It is known for its cooling properties. It grows well in wastelands-sandy, marginal land where conventional cropping is uneconomic. Vetiver is extremely hardy and can tolerate submergence for a considerable Wild Vetiver field period as well as withstand drought situation. Cultivation of vetiver for 3-4 cycles improves sandy soils to a greater extent and makes them suitable for growing common agricultural crops more profitably.

Demand and Supply of vetiver oil

In India as well as the World Market, the demand for vetiver oil is increasing day by day due to its unique odour, for which it is used in both flavour and fragrance industries. One more reason for increase in demand is that this oil cannot be substituted with reconstituted oil and cannot be made synthetically. It is used for Base-note in flavour and fragrance and the percent usage varies from 20-50% to 60-70 %. That means it has enough market potential and there is no doubt on its consumption. The internal demand particularly of Northern type oil always falls short of supply. The world production of vetiver oil is around 300 tons per annum of which India contributes about 20-25 tons. Haiti, Indonesia (only Java), and Reunion produce most of the world’s vetiver oil. In India it is cultivated in the states of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andra Pradesh, with an annual production of about 20 tons of oil. Its demand for perfumes, essence, attar, soap and also as food flavour etc is greater than indigenous production. Quantity wise the Indian vetiver oil, especially North Indian origin is considered to be the best in the world market. The Indian consumption at present is about 100 tons and more than 80 % is met by import. Vetiver

Soil and Climate

Vetiver grows in any type of soil but a rich and fairly well drained loam is considered best. The loamy soils, which are loose in texture, are ideal for root growth and harvesting as well. Vetiver Pure Vetivert Oil plant also grows on a variety of problematic soils like waterlogged soils, sandy soils and areas with high water table and flood prone. A luxuriant growth of healthier root is obtained from plants growing under warm and damp conditions on rich, temporary inundated, marshy land. The Charlands of The Brahmaputra and its main tributaries and newly silted land that turned otherwise unfit for most common agricultural crops may be identified as potential areas for vetiver cultivation. It grows best in areas with warm summer and well-distributed rainfall.

Propagation

Vetiver can be propagated by tillers and slips. Tillers take longer time for growing and therefore, slips are the better planting material for propagation. Preferably it is propagated by slips. Plants are cut at 25-30 cm above ground and dug out for preparation of slips. The culms are divided into slips with 2-3 tillers. These slips are jabbed into ground like seedling. Although the growth may be slow initially, the plants develop quickly once roots are established. The plant responds to fertilizers and irrigation with massive tillering, and each tiller can be broken off and planted.

Harvesting

Harvesting is done in between 15-18 months to get fully developed root system and high quality of oil. Harvesting earlier than 15 months after planting, the immature roots yield oil of poor quality with green earthy odour. Properly developed somewhat thicker roots, yields an oil of better quality and its optical rotation and specific gravity are higher, the odour fuller, richer, more lasting. Oils derived from older roots are usually of darker colour than the oils distilled from the younger roots. If the roots stay in ground for over two years, the yield of oil diminishes considerably as the root system tend to become woody and lose in essential oil content and the oil becomes very viscous with a dark colour but of high quality. In general the crop is harvested after 15-18 months during the dry season from December to February for best quality oil. Oil content of root starts decreasing after 20 months age considerably. For harvesting, the moist vetiver harvesting areas are taken up first. The water logged areas become dry enough in February for digging up the roots. After February due to rising temperature, the soil become harder and makes digging very difficult. At this stage the finer roots stay in the ground, which contain more oil resulting low yield per unit area.

Distillation

The essential oil is extracted from the roots by steam distillation. Freshly harvested roots on distillation give higher yield of oil than stored roots; the yield decreases progressively with the period of storage. The roots are soaked for 18-20 hours in water prior to distillation to render the root material soft and thereby further facilitate release of oil. Fresh roots when cut to lengths 2.5 cm – 5 cm increases recovery. As the most valuable quality constituents are contained in the high boiling fractions, the roots must be distilled for a prolonged period ranging from 20-24 hours. North Indian varieties yield 0.4 to 0.8 of oil. During distillation two fractions-lighter and heavier oils are obtained. In the start highly volatile lighter fraction released first and a considerable amount of which may escape before it gets cooled and collected in liquid phase. To avoid this loss a piece of markin cloth after cleaning is tied at delivery outlet in the swollen balloon shape in the receiver keeping it submerged in water. The lighter fraction that is likely to escape along with the steam/gas or running distillate water would be trapped in the cloth. As the distillation progress the heavier fraction will get deposited in the cloth and the lighter will pass through cloth and get collected in the receiver. At the end of the distillation the cloth is squeezed to get the oil. This piece of cloth is repeatedly used till tear off. Before thrown off, the cloth may be washed by diethyl ether (solvent) to get back the adhering oil. This practice helps in increased recovery of oil. Traditionally copper vessel with S.S condenser is found good for vetiver since the oil react with free copper turns bluish in colour which fetches more price in perfumery market. The traditionally distilled oil which often called “Ruhe khus” done in Kannauj type “Deg Vopka” although recovery is comparatively low fetches the highest price in perfumery market.

Quality aspects

Distillation technique plays an important role in oil quality. By adopting the right steam pressure and by adjusting the post harvest treatment of roots, yield as well as quality can be improved. There are hundreds of small constituents in vetiver oil. However, the ‘Khusimol’ content in oil, minimum of which should be 14% or more and low in caryophyllene. Besides extraction procedures the oil quality is governed by varietal selection, harvesting at proper age (15-18 months) and during dry period only.

(Data from : Assam Small Farmers' Agri-Business Consortium )

VETIVER OIL Vetiveria Zizanoides

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