Variability in regions
Although there are nine phytogeographical regions in India, twenty-nine centres of endemism have been recognised. These are:
(i) Agasthyamalai hills in South Kerala and Tamil Nadu,
(ii) Idduki-Sulahsiri forests,
(iii) Anamalais,
(iv) Nilgiris,
(v) Agumbe-Phonde,
(vi) Mahabaleshwar,
(vii) Ratnagiri and Colaba,
(viii) Saurashtra- Kutch,
(ix) Tirupati-Cuddappa,
(x) Nallamalais,
(xi)Vizagapatnam hills,
(xii) Bastar and Koraput hills,
(xiiii) Similipal and Jeypore hill forests,
(xiv) Chotangpur plateau,
(xv) Panchmarhi-Satpura ranges,
(xvi) Marathwada,
(xvii) Bundelkhand,
(xviiii) Aravalli,
(xix) Ladakh,
(xx) Valley of Flowers and Kedarnath,
(xxi) The Nandaevi,
(xxii) Sikkim Himalayas,
(xxiiii) Lalichopri,
(xxiv) Namdapha,
(xxv) Tura-Khasia range,
(xxvi) Nagaland-Manipur-Mizoram (Lushai hills),
(xxvii)North Andamans,
(xxviiii) South Andamans and
(xxix) the Great Nicobar Islands.
- These centres fall into four broad regions of genetic diversity, i.e., North-Eastern region, Western and Eastern Ghats, Western Himalayas, northern and Indo-Gangetic Plains. Rich diversity in the North-Eastern region occurs in citrus, mango and banana (Arora and Nayar, 1984: Ghosh, 1984).
Variability in Fruits
- Several fruit species of at least 20 genera, such as Artocarpus, Carissa, Citrus, Diospyros, Emblica, Ficus, Grewia, Juglans, Mangifera, Musa, Morus, Prunus, Punica, Pyrus, Ribes, Rubus, Syzygium, Vitis and Zizyphus offer great variability in India
Banana
- Maximum genetic variability of Musa acuminata and M .balbisiana occur in North-East India. M. flaviflora is localized to Manipur and Meghalaya. There are several other species in North Bengal, Sikkim, Khasi hills and on Western Ghats which need systematic collection and conservation.
Citrus
- Being the home of several Citrus species, rich genetic diversity occurs in the North-Eastern, North-Western and Southern regions, the maximum concentration being in the North-Eastern region. Bhattacharya and Dutta (1956) described 17 Citrus species, their 52 cultivars and a few probable natural hybrids from this region. In rough lemon alone, as many as 32 strains are available.
- The species, C.limon, C. medica, C.jambhiri, C.ichangensis, C.latipes, C.macroptera, C.assamensis, C. Indica and C.aurantium are considered indigenous to this region. The Indian wild orange, C.indica, is found in the Naga hills (near Dimapur), Garo hills of Meghalaya and Kaziranga forests in Assam.
Grape
- There is lot of indigenous germplasm of grape in India. Hooker (1875), in Flora of British India, mentioned as many as 75 species of Vitis in India. Hayes (1975) mentioned four species occurring in the foothills of Himalayas from Kashmir to Burma which give edible fruits.
- Wild species of grape are also available in the khandala hills near Pune on Western Ghats. Andamans, Chotanagpur Plateau, Jammu and Himachal Pradesh (Kinnaur) are also considered prominent variability centres.
Mango
- Rich variability in mango is present all over the country. Wild forms of Mangifera indica have existed in peninsular tract, evergreen forests, North-East region and in Terai ranges. Tribal areas at the junctions of Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa. Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan; and South Tamil Nadu and Kerala are some prominent centres.
- Some Mangifera species are native to North-East India, Tripura, Manipur, Mizoram, South Assam, Chotanagpur Plateau, Rajmahal hills and Andamans. Wild forms of M.indica and its allied species M.sylvatica occur in the forests of North-East region. The fossil leaf impressions of M. pentandra have been recovered in Assam. Mukherjee (1985) has reported that at least six out of 41 Mangifera speices are native to India.
Other Fruits
- There is a lot of variability in several other fruits all over the country. Several speices of ber are found in Peninsular tract, Western and Eastern Ghats; Phoenix and Ficus species in North-Eastern region; Indian gooseberry in Northern subtropical plains; tamarind in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh; custard apple in Andhra Pradesh; date palm in Kachchh; jackfruit in Eastern and Southern India; and pome and stone fruits in temperate region.
- In temperate region, Amygdalus, Carya, Castanea, Corylus, Cotoneaster, Cydonia, Docynia, Juglans, Malus, Persea, Pistacia, Prunus and Pyrus are available (Chadha, 1978). In the North-Eastern region also, rich diversity occurs in Pyrus, Rubus, Ribes and Prunus (Kaul, 1987).
- The Shillong plateau of Khasi hills in Meghalaya has many Prunus species, such as P.nepalensis, P.undulata and P.cerasoides. A rich wealth of 17 wild and less known species of edible fruits exists in India out of a total of 337 species in the world
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