About Guar

 
► Guar or cluster bean is believed to have originated from Africa but it is grown throughout southern Asia. India and Pakistan have distinct advantage of agro-climatic conditions for the cultivation of guar though it is also successfully grown in U.S.A., South Africa, Australia, Brazil, Zaire and Sudan.

► The plant is extremely drought resistant, it is a natural habitat of semi-arid regions with warm and dry weather (summer growing annual legume). The growing season of guar is 14 to 16 weeks, requires moderate flashing rainfall with plenty of sunshine.

► The crop is generally sown after the monsoon rainfall in the second half of July to early August and is harvested in late October till early November.

► The guar industry has evolved from being used for domestic and ruminant feed purpose to finding use in major industries such as pharma and oil.

► The guar industry is poised to grow and develop in future owing to high focus on research in universities and technical institutes of the world. The keen interest of industry, government and community will result in cohesive partnership to foster profitable global value chain of guar gum.

Properties

► The dry guar seed contains about 20 – 30% protein and 30 – 40% carbohydrates. The seed is comprised of three parts: the seed coat (hull), the endosperm, and the germ as shown in the picture on the right. In order to obtain pure galactomanon from the endosperm, it is separated from the hull and germ.

► Guar gum split is the basic raw material for guar gum production. It is obtained from guar seeds and refined as per buyer’s requirements.

► Guar split is further processed to make various derivatives as per requirements of end user industry such as petroleum, textile, paper, food and pharmaceuticals etc.

► Guar meal is a by product of guar processing. It is (a mixture of husks and germ) a potential source of protein, and used for cattle as well as poultry feeding. To improve its nutritive value, the guar meal is toasted. It can be used up to 10% in poultry and can replace up to 100% protein supplements such as ground nut oil cakes and ruminants.

Application

► Guar is an excellent soil-building crop with respect to availability of nitrogen. Root nodules contain nitrogen-fixing bacteria and crop residues, when ploughed under, improves yields of succeeding crops.

► The traditional uses of guar are human consumption, cattle feed, medicinal purposes, crop and soil improvement.

► With the development of technology it is used for extracting gum powder, which has many applications including:
►Food preparation and beverages
►Textile
►Paper
►Petroleum
►Mining
►Explosives
►Pharmaceuticals
►Cosmetics

Useful properties of guar

► Easy solubility in cold and hot water.

► Film forming

► Resistance to oils, greases and solvent

► Better thickening

► Water binding

► High viscosity

► Functioning at