DIVERSITY IN BALANITES AEGYPTIACA : A LESSER KNOWN TREE SPECIES IN THE YAMUNA RAVINES

Abstract

Balanites aegyptiaca also known as 'desert date',it is an important native tree species of the Sudan and belongs to Zygophyllaceae or Balanitaceae. It is alsofound India, Iran and Pakistan (Amalraj and Shankarnarayan, 1986). B. aegyptiaca had been used over thousands of years in arid zone regions of the world (Von Maydell, 1986). It has wide ecological distribution;well grown on low-lying, level alluvial sites with deepsandy loam and uninterrupted access to water such as valley floors, riverbanks or the foot of rocky slopes. Fruit is 4-5 cm long, green, brown or pale brown with a brittle coat enclosing a brown or brown-green sticky pulp and a hard stone seed and seeds weigh 500-1500/kg. The fleshy pulp of the fruit is eaten fresh or dried. This fruit contains 64 -72% carbohydrates, plus crude protein, steroidal saponins, vitamin C, ethanol and other minerals (Abu Al-Futuh, 1983). It is widely used as good firewood and charcoal; edible fruit and nuts have 30-40 % of edible oil (Dubey et al., 2011). Both fruits and kernel were widely used as livestock feed in many countries during the dry season and drought periods in the dry tropical region (Schimdt and Joker, 2000), and the kernel represents 15% of fruit (Elfeel and Warrag, 2006). In the Yamuna ravines, B.aegyptiaca has widely and naturally colonized with higher densities at ravine valleys. Within the species, there is evidence showing the occurrence of a number of local forms differing in habit, size, quality of the fruit and nut characters. Knowledge of this existing genetic variation within the species is essential to design a strategy to promote the use and conservation of indigenous fruit trees meant for on-farm cultivation.