Exploring genetic diversity of Garcinia lanceifolia Roxb. (Clusiaceae), a highly medicinal and endangered fruit of north-east India

Abstract

The present investigation was carried out during 2015–2017 to identify superior accessions of Garcinia lanceifolia Roxb., a highly medicinal fruit of Mizoram, North-east India. The ripe fruits of 25 selected accessions from six districts of Mizoram, north-east India were analyzed for fruit weight, fruit length, fruit diameter, fruit volume, pulp weight, peel weight, pulp: peel ratio, seed weight, seed length, seed diameter, number of seeds, TSS, acidity, ascorbic acid, reducing sugars and total sugars. The study reveals that there was significant variation among the accessions with respect to all these characters. Individual fruit weight ranged from 31.90 to 105.47 g; fruit volume 25.53–95.40 cm3; seed weight 12.98–46.98 g; peel weight 1.45–4.96 g; pulp weight ranged from 12.69 to 53.88 g. There was wide variation in chemical characters of the fruits also. TSS varied from 5.29 to 8.64%, titratable acidity varied from 3.27 to 5.72%, ascorbic acid 42.03–49.34 mg/100 g; total sugars 5.00–6.86%; reducing sugar ranged from 2.57 to 4.16%. From the results of the present investigation, MZU-HAMP-GC-1, MZU-HAMP-GC-2 and MZU-HAMP-GC-10 can be considered as elite G. lanceifolia Roxb. accessions for use in future breeding programmes.