GENETIC DIVERSITY AND SUITABILITY OF MULBERRY (MORUS SP.) FOR CULTIVATION IN ARID ECOLOGY

Abstract

India with diverse soil and climatic conditions comprised with several agro-ecosystems, provides a huge opportunity to cultivate a variety of horticultural crops but an arid ecosystem is most vulnerable to climate change. In the arid ecosystem, 'Thar Desert' is the ninth largest desert of the world, but it has abundant biodiversity status. The vegetation of this region is adapted to xerophytic conditions. It is a biodiversity hotspot of a huge flora and fauna which are flourishing under such a harsh conditions. Most of the native flora of this region is unexploited and underutilized which require sincere research efforts for their conservation and sustainable utilization at commercial level. In India, most states have taken up sericulture as an important agro-industry with excellent results. However, its cultivation for fruit production is very low, despite its nutritive and functional food importance. Looking into these aspects, preliminary studies were done at ICAR-CIAH, Bikaner on the feasibility of mulberry fruit production in arid climate, therefore, fifteen genotypes were collected from different parts of the country and planted in 2007 and evaluated for several morphological and yield parameters. A wide range in term of fruit length (0.9 cm to 9.4 cm) and weight (0.5 gm -7.2 gm) was recorded in different genotypes under field condition of arid ecosystem. The mulberry plants of almost all genotypes were found to tolerate extreme cold and hot temperatures of the arid region. Out of those two elite types were identified as Thar Lohit and Thar Harit at institute level. Thus, this crop can be viewed one of the sustainable fruit crops of arid region.