Recent Advances in Temperate Fruit Crop Improvement

Abstract

Globally India is the second largest producer of fruits; however the productivity is significantly low as compared to advanced countries. The majority of the temperate fruits and nuts are being cultivated in the north-western Himalayan and small areas are lies in north eastern parts. High altitude and temperate regions are capable to produce good quality fruits. But the foothill where the chilling is insufficient adversely affects the yield and quality. In India, majority of the temperate fruits were introduced from other parts of the world and some are indigenous to India like walnuts and wild apple species. Therefore, the improvement of the temperate fruits and nuts were taken place mainly through introduction of promising cultivars. The exotic cultivars are still the backbone of fruit production in India particularly for apple, pear, peach, plum and cherry. Promising varieties were introduced from USA, UK, Germany, Italy, France, Australia, New Zealand, Hungary and Bulgaria and were evaluated for commercial exploitation. However, in walnutand almonds, production is mainly from Indigenous cultivars/ local land races. These consisted of non-descriptive trees and highly variable in yield and quality traits. Recently, several varieties have been developed in India in apple, peach, plum, apricot, cherry and walnut. The potential of these varieties are immense for commercial exploitation. The paper attempt to document the accomplishment made in temperate fruit and nut improvement in perspective to Indian Scenario. The information is valuable for breeders and academician for further studies.