Agarwood Production - A Multidisciplinary Field to be Explored in Bangladesh

‘Agarwood’ or ‘eaglewood’ (‘Aguru’ in Bengali) is the most expensive wood in the world, which is an occasional product of a few genera of Aquilaria and Gyrinops in the plant family Thymelaeaceae. Agar is a scented product, oleoresin, obtained from pathological conditions of the wood of live trees containing many aromatic substances. Various bacteria and fungi have been found to be associated with Agarwood formation, although it is still not absolutely clear which are important or even necessary. The quality of agar mostly depends on the plant species and the fungal species involved, as well as, certain other unknown factors. The issues are now to explore the new sources of agarwood to protect the endangered plant species, to ensure agar…