Crop description. Taraktogenos kurzii, Hydnocarpus wightiana, Oncoba echinata (West Africa), and Carpotroche brasiliensis (Brazil)—commonly known as chaulmoogra, chaulmugra, maroti, hydnocarpus, and gorli seed—belong to the family Flacourtiaceae and grow in India, Sri Lanka, Burma, Bangladesh, Nigeria, and Uganda (see Fig. 4.21). The trees

Figure 4.21 Chaulmoogra leaves. (Photo courtesy of Prof. Gerald D. Carr [www. botany. hawaii. edu/ faculty/carr/flacourti. htm].)

grow to a height of 12-15 m. The kernels make up 60-70% of the seed weight and contain 63% of pale-yellow oil. The oil is unusual in that it is not made up of straight-chain fatty acids but acids with a cyclic group at the end of the chain [77].

Main uses. Chaulmoogra oil has been used for thousands of years in the treatment of leprosy. However, it has now been replaced by modern drugs. The expeller cake is a useful manure and is reported to ward off ants and other insect pests. It cannot be used for animal feed due to its toxicity. The oil has been highly active against fungal plant pathogens including Aspergillus niger and Rhizopus nigricans. There may be a wide scope of integrating the pharmaceutical industries based on chaul — moogra, with the fuel and energy industries dealing with production of petroleum hydrocarbons, such as biodiesel [180].