LAC CULTIVATION

Lac cultivation is done by putting brood lac on suitably prepared specific host plants.
The brood lac contains gravid females which are about to lay eggs to give birth to young
larvae. After emergence from mother cells, the young larvae settle on fresh twigs of host
plants, suck the plant sap and grow to form encrustations.
Local practice
Lac cultivation is simple, does not need any large investment and requires only part-
time attention. In India, lac cultivation is carried out casually, and the cultivator is
satisfied with what he gets, as it is being regarded as subsidiary crop. The local practices
in lac cultivation has some disadvantages like –
● The same host plants are continuously exploited without giving rest for
recoupment.
● Only natural inoculation occurs.

● Partial harvest is done leaving few branches untouched for auto inoculation of next
crop and no pruning is done.
As a result of the defective local practices, host trees loss the vigour and unable to throw
out new succulent shoots, and in course of time, the trees become weak and die. The self
inoculation leads to heterogeneous infestation of nymphs, which results in wholesome
mortality of brood in seasons of extreme heat, and thereby, the cultivator is forced to
abandon lac cultivation.
Improved practice
Sustained production of lac and steady returns can be achieved by adopting improved
method of cultivation. The underlying principle in improved method of lac cultivation is
to provide much needed rest to the host plants after a harvest has been taken. For this
purpose, coupe system of lac cultivation is adopted. As the term coupe means a
chamber, the host plant trees are divided into coupes i.e. groups that consist of certain
number of trees. In practice, only few numbers of trees in a coupe are inoculated.
Following harvest, these trees are made to rest and recoup the lost vigour, while other
trees (which have till now been restring) are ready with succulent twigs for inoculation.
Thus, in a coupe system, alternate groups of trees are put to lac cultivation. Full
inoculation and full cropping is the rule under this system. In addition, the following
considerations are desirable in improved lac cultivation:-
⮚ The mean lac productivity (per tree and per unit area) of 2, 5 and 15 kg per tree
or 3, 4 and 5 q/ha for palas, ber and kusum respectively in traditional lac culture is
very low. This is all due to poor sustainability, continuous exploitation and increased
threat from pests. So, the technology of improved scientific method of lac
cultivation should be adopted, that includes superior breeds of lac insect, providing
proper rest to host plants, use of good quality brood lac in appropriate quantity, post
 harvest management of lac crop, host plant management and lac pest management.

⮚ As the lac cultivation is mainly practiced by the forest and forest fringe dwellers,
their involvement in the Joint Forest Management (JFM) programmes in different
lac growing states is likely to enhance the lac production. Lac host trees under the
custody of state forest department are out of reach of the forest dwellers and
interested lac growers and are not being utilized for lac cultivation. If these are
jointly managed by forest department and forest dwellers and they work in close
association, it will be a boon for lac cultivation and production.
⮚ Timely availability of pest free and quality brood lac is the most important
input for lac cultivation. Quality brood lac ensures high fecundity of insects and
fewer requirements of inoculums. Timely harvesting of mature crop and proper
inoculation will reduce the risk of loss of lac insect to a large extent.
Propagation of Lac Insects
Propagation means the spread of lac insects on the same or different host
plants. This is done by inoculation of newly hatched (Brood) nymphs. Inoculation is
of two types.
i) Natural or self/auto – inoculation: This type of inoculation occurs
naturally. It is very simple and common process, when the swarmed nymphs
infect the same host plant again. Natural inoculation, being repeated on the
same host, makes in host plant weak, and thereby, nymphs do not get proper
nutrition. Also in natural inoculation, it is not sure that uniform sequence of
inoculation take place. Therefore, natural inoculation should be discouraged.
ii) Artificial Inoculation: Artificial inoculation is brought about by the
agency of man. The main idea behind the artificial inoculation is to check the
drawbacks of natural inoculation. In this method, the host plants are first of all
pruned in Jan. or June. Pruning means cutting away old, weak and diseased
twigs. It induces host plants to throw out new succulent twigs and is as
important in lac culture as plouging is for seed sowing in agriculture. Pruning
should be done with a sharp instrument (scateur, pruning Shaw and pruning
knife) to give a sharp and neat cut. Only light pruning should be carried out.
In artificial inoculation, brood twigs are cut in size 20 - 30 cm in length. Then, the cut
pieces of brood twig are tied to fresh tree twigs in such a way that each stick touches the
tender branches of trees at several places. The nymphs swarm from brood and migrate to
tender and succulent twigs and infest them. Following swarming, the brood twigs should
be removed from the host plant, as this would decrease the chance of pest infestation.
Following precautions are desirable is artificial inoculation:-
i. Fully mature and healthy brood free from pest infestations should be taken.
ii. Brood meant for inoculation should not be kept for long and used
immediately after crop cutting.
iii. Tying of the brood lac stick should be done securely on the upper surface of
branches. This will prevent falling of twigs and provide full contact for quick and
easy crawling of the nymphs. One should keep a watch on the brood lac dropping
down.
iv. Some times due to bad weather, swarming of nymphs from brood is prevented.
0
Hence, the room storing brood lac sticks is moderately heated to 20 C to induce
swarming, and then sticks are tied.
v. Generally, cultivation of kusumi in rangeeni area and vice versa should be avoided.
Brood lac from a particular host used year after year is likely to deteriorate in quality.
Therefore, alternation of brood and host give production of a better quality of brood lac.
Inoculation period
As discussed above, each strain of lac insects (Kusumi and Rangeeni) yield two
crops a year: jethwi and aghani in case of kusumi strain, and kartiki and baisakhi in case
of rangeeni. The inoculation period of all the four types of crops is different: for kartiki,
June/July; for baisakhi, Oct. /Nov. for agahani, June/July; for jethwi, Jan. /Feb.
Harvesting of lac
Harvesting is the process of collection of ready lac from host trees. It is done by
cutting the lac encrusted twigs when is crop is mature. It may be of two types:-
a) In Immature harvesting, lac is collected before swarming, and lac thus obtained is
known as ‘ARI LAC’. The immature harvesting has drawbacks, as the lac insects may
be damaged at the time of harvesting. However, incase of palas lac (Rangeeni lac), it is
found that ARI Lac gives better production. Hence, ARI lac harvesting is recommended
in case of palas only.
b) In mature harvesting, lac is collected after swarming. The lac obtained is known as
mature Lac. To know the exact date emergence and swarming of nymph, a simple
visual method is adopted. A yellow spot develops on the posterior side of lac cell
towards crop maturity. This spot spread forwards until it covers half of the cell. Cutting
of twigs for harvest can be done at any time between the stages while yellow spot
occupies one third to one half of the cell area. It is sometimes desirable to wait till the
emergence of the first few nymphs. The harvesting periods of different crops are
different. The kartiki crop is harvested in Oct. /Nov.; baisakhi, in May/June; aghani in
Jan/Feb.; and jethwi, in June/July.
When the nymphs have escaped from the brood lac, what is left is the stick lac or
phunki lac. These sticks should be tied in bundles and immersed in water, preferably
running water for 3-4 days, keeping them well under waters with help of heavy stones.
The stick lac should then be kept in shade for drying. The raw lac should be scraped
while sticks are still moist.
Following consideration are recommended for harvesting:
i. Lac crop should be harvested only when mature. Immature or ARI lac cutting
should be avoided, though it is recommended in case of palas.
ii. A mature crop is said to be the one from which nymphs will emerge in 7-10 days.
 So, the crop should be harvested within the above said days prior to nymphal
emergence. If cut earlier, there is a chance of nymphs dying. If cut later, the
nymphs may already have emerged before inoculation is adopted.

iii. Attempt should be made to reap the entire crop, if self inoculation is not
required. In the case of rangeeni crop, only lac encrusted twigs are cut, while in
the case of kusumi one, reaping should combine with pruning.
iv. The brood sticks harvested should be utilized for inoculation as soon as
possible. If storage is needed, these have to be stored in a well ventilated room
or under shade in open prevented from rain and heat.
v. Harvesting of lac crop at maturity can solve the crisis of brood lac dearth to a
large extent without affecting the quality of lac obtained as phunki lac. This will
also reduce the loss of brood lac and enhance the yield.