Breeding of Fruit and Plantation Crops

Horticultural Genetic Resources (HGR) in indian gene centre

 
• The horticultural diversity existing in India today comprises both indigenous and exotic genetic resources. Amongst native horticultural crops of India, rich diversity exists in 50 different indigenous fruits and their wild relatives, totaling about 400 species.
• The North Eastern region has maximum concentration of wild relatives of fruits followed by the Western Himalayas. Rich diversity in North –eastern region is reported in citrus, mango and banana. The Indian wild orange, C,indica, is found in the Naga hills, Garo hills of Meghalaya and Kaziranga forests of Assam. Similarly, in mango, wild forms of Mangifera indica and its allied species of M. sylvatica are native to Andaman Islands. Rich diversity occurs in North –Western and Eastern Himalayan regions for Pyrus ,Rubus, Ribes and Prunus.
• The Shillong plateau of Khasi hills in Meghalya accounts for many Prunus species such as P.nepaulensis, P.undulata and P.cerasoides. There are many minor fruit plants that have potential for exploitation. These include bael fruit (Aegle marmelos), Indian gooseberry (Emblica officinalis), papaya (Carica papaya), Jack fruit (Artocarpus hetrophyllus), custard-apple (Annona sp), Karonda (Carissa sp), cordia or (cordia myxa) and phalsa (Grewia asiatica).
HGR management in India

North – Eastern region	:	Pumpkin, cucumber, Okra, eggplant, chilli, pointed gourd, ash gourd, taro, yams, citrus spp. Citrus lemon, C.medica, C. jambhiri, C.ichagensis, C.latipes, C.macroptera, C.assamensis, C,indica and C.aurantium, banana, tea, tree cotton, and mesta, large cardamom, ginger, long pepper and sugarcane
Western Himalayas	:	Pumpkin, cucumber, Allium spp., ginger, brassicae, pome, stone, soft and nut fruits, chayote, tree tomato, medicinal plants.
Eastern Himalayas	:	Pumpkin, cucumber, Allium spp., ginger, chayote, tree tomato, brassicae, pome and stone fruits
Eastern peninsular region	:	Taro,yams, elephant foot yam, banana, mango, lemon / lime, jackfruit, niger, brassicae, sesame, ginger, turmeric chilli, sugarcane, coconut and cotton
Gangetic plains	:	Okra, eggplant, bitter gourd, Cucumis spp., Luffa spp., Jackfruit, mango, lemon / lime, orange jujube, Indian gooseberry, jamun, melons, linseed, niger, sesame, brassicae, sugarcane and mulberry
Indus plains	:	Okra, Cucumis spp., khirni and phalsa
Western peninsular region	:	Okra, eggplant, cucumber, chilli, taro, yams, elephant foot yam, jackfruit, banana, lemon/ lime, orange, jamun, sugacane, black pepper, turmeric ginger, coconut, arecanut and cotton
Island regions	:	Coconut, bread fruit, chilli, taro, yams and xanthosoma


• Management of HGR is an important issue, especially for a country like India, which is predominantly an agrarian society and also richly endowed with HGR. In fact, HGR management is more complex as compared to the field crops, and requires different management strategies.