Tamarind monograph.pdf - Crops for the Future

Chapter 3. Uses and Products
3.1 Introduction
Revised by J.T. Williams
Tamarind is a versatile fruit, which can be used for many purposes. The
unique sweet/sour flavour of the pulp is popular in cooking and flavouring.
Virtually every part of the tree (wood, root, leaves, bark and fruits) has some
value in the subsistence of rural people and a number of commercial
applications are well known; others have the potential for further
development.
3.2 Agroforestry and land use
Tamarind is used in agroforestry systems in many parts of the tropics due to
its multiple uses. In India, many farmers integrate several species, including
tamarind, with their agricultural crops and livestock. The increasing
integration of tamarind with other trees and crops on farmlands offers a
strategy to minimise the risk of crop failure. Tamarind is also an important
tree in home gardens in south and southeast Asia.
In agroforestry systems in Maharastra, India, tamarind side branches are
trimmed regularly providing fodder for the animals and simultaneously
opening a greater space for the inter-mixed crops (Relwani, 1993). In
Thailand, intercropping with annuals, such as groundnuts, maize, soybean
and beans, is practised in sweet tamarind orchards when the trees are young.
In some districts such as Pak Chong in Nakhon Ratchasima province,
tamarind is intercropped with custard apple (Annona spp.). In the dry season
custard apple becomes dormant like tamarind forming a compatible
combination (Yaacob and Subhadrabandhu, 1995). Intercropping of
tamarind with annual crops can enhance farm income and improve the well
being of rural populations, by providing a constant income from the farming
system. Once the tamarind tree has passed its juvenile stage and comes into
bearing, it will provide a constant supply of fruit, in addition to the produce
from the annual crop species. In this way, the farmer obtains more from the
same area of land. Tamarind comes into bearing after 10-14 years and for up
to eight years of age intercropping is suitable but less so for vegetatively
propagated trees which come into bearing at 4-7-10 years.
Tamarind leaf extracts, however, have been reported to reduce mitotic
activity and induce chromosomal aberrations in Allium sativum root
meristems (Yadev, 1986). In Southwest Madagascar, the fallen leaves of
tamarind, when placed in the planting holes of corn, reduced emergence and
grain yield, indicating an allelopathic effect. Mulching with tamarind leaves
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