• Dr. Vidya Bhushan Kuruwanshi
• Dr. Shalini Toppo

Gums and resins occupy a prime place among Non-Wood Forest Produce (NWFP/NTFP) and are known to mankind since time immemorial. Gums are important natural biopolymers demand from biological system under stress situation i.e. disease injury to bark etc. being used as a principal components in food, pharmaceutical industries and play a key role in social and livelihood of tribal communities. Gums are metabolic by-products of plant tissues either in normal course or often as a result of disease or injury to the bark or wood of certain plants and it cannot be re-enter with plant system. Gum karaya (Sterculia urens Roxb.) is a dry deciduous tree belonging to the family Sterculiaceae distributed throughout India and Chhattisgarh. Karaya gum is the dried exudate obtained from trees of Sterculia species. The commercial tapping of karaya is done by blazing, peeling, or by making deep cuts at the base of the bole using an axe or a cycle. These methods often lead to the death of the tapped trees. On account of crude tapping methods and over exploitation the population of karaya trees has markedly declined. The harvesting methods currently used are traditional and injurious due to which often obtained inferior quality of products. The various chemical methods are used for tapping purpose and chemical tapping method using ethephon and IAA injected by battery operated drill machine. However, temperature and relative humidity also play significant role in gum exudation. The ethephon @ 3.12% in 4 ml in two consecutive doses in 45-60 days intervals at high temperature in month of April to June was found significantly effective for maximum gum production. The physiochemical properties of exudated gum was found mild acidic, least soluble in cold water but absorb water and swell, soluble in hot water but insoluble in organic solvent. The process of gummosis related to biotic and abiotic stress of tree plant plays significant role in production of biopolymers (gum/resin). The impact of gum enhance ethephon was found significantly superior regarding the production of biopolymers. Therefore, the physiological tool was used to impose artificial stress via various concentration of ethephon (slow releasing substance of ethylene) as gum enhancer in stem of gum karaya to find out the mechanism of gummosis and compared with mechanical tapping method. The biological (anatomical), studies were done via taking the sample of soft (sapwood) after injecting the gum enhancer ethephon at different time intervals. An application of ethephon enhances the process of gummosis due to formation of gum duct. The gum duct formation was observed in histological analysis of bark section within 2hrs of ethephon treatment in gum karaya. The histological changes indicated that the gum ducts lysigenously are present in the pith and cortex of the young stem of Sterculia urens but absent in the xylem.

Sterculia urens, Ethephon, Gummosis, Gum tapping, Gum duct formation, Gum yield

"Sustainable Gum Tapping Technique and Histological Study of Gummosis Process Using Ethephon in Gum Karaya (Sterculia urens Roxb.)", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.12, Issue 10, page no.e465-e475, October-2025, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2510459.pdf

"Sustainable Gum Tapping Technique and Histological Study of Gummosis Process Using Ethephon in Gum Karaya (Sterculia urens Roxb.)", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.12, Issue 10, page no. ppe465-e475, October-2025, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2510459.pdf