Survey, Identification and Evaluation of biodiversity of Seabuckthorn (Hippophae salicifolia) in hills of Uttarakhand

Extensive studies were carried out during 2017-2019 to evaluate the Hippophae salicifolia (Seabuckthorn) biodiversity in Uttarakhand for their physico-chemical/biochemical parameters of ripe fruits like acidity (1.78-3.01 %), pH (2.15-2.87), Vitamin ‘C’ (271-494mg/100g), Total soluble solids (5.1-9.8) etc. Variation was also observed in fruit color (light yellow, yellow, light yellow orange, orange and orange red), fruit size (length 6.29-8.77mm, width 4.80-7.59mm), Juice (44.23-76.18%), Pomace (8.01-28.30%) and seed (6.8-21.1%). On the basis of above parameters, promising morphotypes were identified and conserved at field gene bank at DIBER field station, Auli (Joshimath) 3142m AMSL.


Introduction
Hippophae salicifolia commonly known as Seabuckthorn is one of the important wild plants of Uttarakhand Himalayas with nutritious fruits which are having tremendous medicinal & pharmaceutical importance. Besides Uttarakhand it is also found occurring naturally in other parts of India including Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. It is locally known as 'Ames', 'Ameel' and 'Chuk'. Hippophae salicifolia belongs to family Eleagnaceae and is commonly known as willow leaved sea buckthorn and its fruits are very rich in vitamins and other important bio-chemicals or biologically active compounds (Rongsen, 1992).
In India, three species of Hippophae are reported, H. rhamnoides and H. salicifolia are common but third one Hippophae tibetana is found growing in very limited patches in high altitude hills . Among common two species, H. salicifolia has not been studied much for its high value medicinal benefits (Gupta et al., 2011). It differs from H. rhamnoides in two major aspects. First one is that it is a shrub that could grow up to a tree size (4-10m) at 1500-3200m above mean sea level and is limited in its bio-geographical distribution to the Himalayas (central and northern) (Gupta et al., 2011;Kaushal et al., 2013). H. rhamnoides, on the other hand is a bushy tree that is distributed widely in both Asia and Europe at higher altitudes (R. Singh, 2004;Chakraborty et al., 2016;Usha et al., 2014). It is found in Tibet region of China, Bhutan, Nepal, and Himalayan hills of India (Ramu et al., 2014). In India, it dwells at high altitude regions of Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Sikkim, and Uttarakhand (Usha et al., 2014). Indigenously, the ethno-botanical uses of H. salicifolia by the regional people of Central Himalaya include animal feed, cosmetics, food, fuel, medicine, veterinary care, and biofencing (Singh et.al, 2005;Thakur et al., 2015).
In Uttarakhand this plant is found abundantly in higher hills of Chamoli and Uttarkashi Districts, but not much biodiversity study has been done so far, hence a systematic study in Chamoli District was carried out by the Defence Institute of Bio-energy Research, Haldwani to study the existing biodiversity in the region.

Materials & Methods
The study was undertaken by Defence Institute of Bio-Energy Research, Haldwani, having a field station at Auli (11000 ft) above mean sea level where Seabuckthorn R & D is being carried out. During the extensive survey Random as well as biased sampling was followed (Sinha 1981) to collect particular morphotypes. The physico-chemical properties of ripe fruits were analyzed within 48 hours of collection. The fruit colour was analyzed as per Royal Horticultural Society colour chart (RHS 2001). Fruit size i.e. length and width were measured by digital vernier calipers while fruit weight was measured by digital weighing balance. The volume was calculated by using water replacement method. Total soluble solids (TSS) was measured with digital refractometer and pH of the juice was recorded by digital pH meter. Other parameters like acidity (as malic acid), ascorbic acid and sugar content of the fruit juice were estimated as per Rangana (1986), for calculations standard statistical procedures were followed.
Entire data was pooled and analyzed as per standard statistical procedures (Panse and Sukhatme

Results & Discussion
DIBER, Haldwani has conducted the first ever extensive systematic survey in the hills of Uttarakhand. The natural habitat of Seabuckthorn identified are Yamunotri, Gomukh, Harhindum, Hanuman chatti, Badrinath area, Urgam valley, Jelam area of Malari, at an altitudinal range of 2700-3700m above msl in Uttarakhand hills (Figure 1). H. salicifolia is generally found growing naturally along the rivers, channels, tributaries and along roadside in some places. It has been found growing in hill slopes, rocky and sandy soils. Major Seabuckthorn growing areas were found in Mana, Badrinath Hanuman Chatti and Bhunder along the Alaknanda and its tributaries. Its habit is generally a tree with an average height of 2-12m but sometimes bushy habit plants were also observed. Most of the seabuckthorn population is natural one and thick habitat is due to profuse suckering ability of the plant and its suckers run parallelly and give rise to new plants at intervals. Seabuckthorn being a cross pollinated plant lot of variation in the plant population has been noticed in the region.The data pertaining to Physicochemical properties of mature fruits of Hippophae salicifolia collected from various locations have been presented in Table-1-6.

Variation in Physical characteristics of fruits
Variation in the fruit parameters in the natural plant population of Seabuckthorn will be highly helpful in the selective evaluation of the plants with desirable traits, important for pharmaceutical and nutraceutical importance.Variability studies in the shape, size, color, weight and volume of the fruits and leaves were carried out and lot of variations were observed ( Figure   2). Color of the fruit samples were recorded with the help of The Royal Horticultural society color chart and color varied from light yellow, yellow, yellow orange to orange and orange red in color. Shape of the fruit varied from oval, round, elliptical to capsular. Size of fruits of seabuckthorn is the limiting factor for its commercialization because of its small size and high perish-ability. It is obvious from data that fruit length was in the range of 6.14 (DIBER-30) to  (Nath et al. 2000). Therefore promising selections have been made considering these attributes.

Variation in chemical properties of fruits
Physico-chemical properties like pH, TSS, acidity, sugars and vitamin 'C' content of Hippophae salicifolia are essential parameters for nutritional and processing purposes. All these parameters have shown variation in the fruit samples ( Table-1 in DIBER-6 to 28.30 % in DIBER-51 with a mean value of 18.15 % and seed % was in the range of 6.8% in DIBER-9 to 21.1 % in DIBER-65 with a mean value of 13.95%. It is obvious from the data that there is distinct variation in the juice content of the fruit which might have been influenced by growing place and genetic makeup of the morphotypes (Dwivedi et al, 2004). Seed and pomace are the major residues after processing of Hippophae salicifolia fruits which contains vitamins and valuable oil suitable for medicinal and cosmetic industries (Rongsen, 1992).
Among the 70 fruit samples collected from Chamoli District of Uttarakhand, 6 promising genotypes have been identified based on desirable characteristics. These selected genotypes have been conserved at DIBER field station, Auli (3142m above mean sea level) which can be utilized in Hippophae salicifolia breeding programme as parent material.