Propagation of underutilized tropical fruit crops – a review

Abstract

Underutilized fruits are those having less economic importance than the more popular ones and also those usually grown in very limited areas and are familiar only to few people. They are cheap and highly nutritious. They are endowed with several medicinal and therapeutic properties and are used by local people to cure various diseases. From many of them, the fruit, seed, leaf of the plant are used as curative foods in traditional Indian medicine and Ayurveda. In addition some have an excellent flavor and taste and are used for preparing delicacies at home. In tropical parts of the world some of the underutilized fruits are: jack fruit, jamun, carombola, tamarind, wood apple, kokam, khirni, lasora, Barbodos gooseberry, etc. Propagation of true-to-type plants is essential in these crops in order to maintain genetic purity and establish orchards of desirable characters. Different methods of propagation as well as advancements made in the aspect of propagation in case of these underutilized fruits have to be thoroughly reviewed. According to the research conducted at FRS,GAU, Gandevi by Patel et al. (1996) on the effect of different seed treatments on germination percentage of khirni seed, the seed treated with 1% thiourea for 6 h gave best (72%) and earliest germination percentage. Dung treated khirni seed kept for 24 h was found to show 97% germination. A research trial conducted by Misra and Jaiswal (1993) at GB Panth University of Agriculture Technology, Panthnagar reported that 10000 ppm IBA treated stool layers of karonda gave the best percent of rooting (86.90) and the longest length of root (14.43 cm). In an experiment conducted by Alila (2010) under Nagaland conditions, it was reported that etiolated air layers of jack fruit with 10000 ppm IBA gave a higher rooting percentage (72.13%). The lowest performance was reported by IBA 2500 (58.34). In this article similar advancements have been reviewed and compiled.