VARIATION AND INTERRELATIONS AMONG TREE CHARACTERS, POD-SEED MORPHOLOGY AND POD BIOCHEMICAL CHARACTERS IN PROSOPIS JULIFLORA (SW) DC.

Abstract

SUMMARY Two species of Prosopis—P. cineraria and P. puliflora are found in the Indian sub-continent. The first named is indigenous, while the latter was introduced around 130 years ago. P. juliflora or ‘vilayati babool’ in Hindi or ‘mesquite’ in English showed its promise soon after introduction and, due to its wide ecological tolerance and ability to colonise severe sites, mesquite has spread throughout the tropical arid and semi-arid regions of India. These regions account for 40 percent of the country's land surface. During the past few years P. juliflora has been described as a disaster by some critics, despite the fact that it provides the firewood needs of more than 80 percent of the population in rural areas of the tropical arid and semi-arid regions, and also provides nutritious pods for livestock. 44 potential plus trees were selected from a wide range of sites in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Gujrat states in order to study variation in tree growth, pod and seed morphology and pod pulp biochemical features. All the characters studied showed large variation. It is believed that mesquite can be improved by appropriate breeding methods and a short account is given of the work required on this species.