Under-utilized subtropical fruits for enhancing profitability and nutritional security of smallholders

Abstract

Under-utilized subtropical fruits because of their hardy nature of tree, high production potential in degraded lands and high nutritional value have immense potential of commercialization in rural India in the years to come. During last five decades, most of the horticultural development efforts were confined to the improvement and commercialization of major fruit crops like mango, banana, apple, guava, citrus, papaya, litchi, grapes, etc. Work done on under-utilized subtropical fruits in the country especially during last one decade has opened up new vistas of horticultural growth in general and arid and semi-arid regions in particular for enhancing small farmers’ profitability and also the nutritional security. The crops like aonla (Emblica officinalis Gaertn), bael (Aegle marmelos Correa), jamun (Syzygium cumini Skeels), custard apple (Annona squamosa L.), khirni (Manilkara hexandra (Roxb) Dubard), carambola (Averrhoa carambola L.), mulberry (Morus spp), barhal (Artocarpus lakoocha Roxb), karonda (Carissa carandas L), tamarind (Tamarindus indica L.), chironji (Buchanania lanzan Spreng) and wood apple (Limonia acidissima L.) and jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus L.) have a lot of diversity in hot spot areas and offer immense potential of identifying superior genotypes for commercialization. The present paper deals with the prospects of utilization of these crops for enhancing profitability of small holders and the latest efforts made in development of superior genotypes in the country. Aonla cultivars like Kanchan, Krishna, NA-7, NA-10, Lakshmi-52, Goma Aishwarya have gained popularity while CISH B-1, CISH B-2, Pant Aparna, Pant Sujata, Pant Shivani, Pant Urvashi, NB-5, NB-7, NB-9, NB-16, NB-17, Goma Yashi, Thar Divya and Thar Neelkanth of bael have spread in many new areas and contributed to enhanced profitability. Paras, Konkan Bahdoli, Thar Kranti, Goma Priyanka, CISH J-37 and CISH J-42 (seedless) have been developed in jamun for commercialization. Arka Sahan and Balanagar custard apples are being adopted in various degraded areas. Thar Priya and Thar Rituraj identified in chironji and khirni, respectively have become a new hope for plateau of central and western India. Pant Manohar, Pant Sudarshan, Pant Suvarna, Maroon coloured, White Pink Blush and Thar Kamal in karonda and Konkan Prolific, Singapore/Ceylon Jack, Hybrid Jack, Burliar-1, PLR-1 (Palur-1), PPI-1 (Pechiparai-1) in jackfruit are some of the promising cultivars developed for commercialization. The crops like mulberry, barhal, wood apple, khirni, chironji and carambola have exhibited tremendous variability in fruit traits for selection and commercialization of new cultivars. The expected economic returns from the crops like custard apple, bael, jamun, chironji, khirni, carambola, etc are very high when marketed properly.