Tamarind monograph.pdf - Crops for the Future
Tamarind monograph.pdf - Crops for the Future
Tamarind monograph.pdf - Crops for the Future
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8.3.3 India<br />
In India, most of <strong>the</strong> area under tamarind cultivation is planted with<br />
unselected, inferior cultivars. Selections from tamarind provenances are<br />
available. The Bharata Agricultural and Industrial Foundation (BAIF), Pune,<br />
India has attempted to supply improved planting material to smallholders by<br />
selecting superior trees from among existing natural populations. The<br />
parameters <strong>for</strong> selection of superior trees have been based entirely on pod<br />
characters such as pod length, pod colour and pulp yield per pod (Daniel,<br />
1999; personal communication) and <strong>the</strong> association of fruit characters has<br />
been worked out (Karale et al., 1999), as well as genotype x environment<br />
effects of different locations on fruit size grades (Parameswari et al., 2000).<br />
Under this programme, 15 superior tamarind provenances have been<br />
identified and a multiplication stand has been established in <strong>the</strong> BAIF's<br />
Central Research Station in Pune. Among <strong>the</strong>m, selections such as<br />
Prathisthan from Maharashtra and Periyakulam (PKM-1) and Urigam from<br />
Tamil Nadu are well established and preferred by farmers. The most<br />
preferred cultivar is Periyakulam 1 (PKM-1), a sour type, a clonal selection<br />
from a local <strong>for</strong>m in a village named Endapalli near Periyakulam. The<br />
Horticultural Research Station of <strong>the</strong> Tamil Nadu Agricultural University,<br />
Periyakulam, released this cultivar which is an early bearer, especially when<br />
grafted when <strong>the</strong>y come into bearing from <strong>the</strong> third year (compared with <strong>the</strong><br />
fifth year in <strong>the</strong> local <strong>for</strong>m). It has a pulp recovery percentage of 39%<br />
compared to <strong>the</strong> local cultivar which is 28%. The yield is also higher in <strong>the</strong><br />
Periyakulam cultivar, with 263 kg/tree against 167 kg/tree in <strong>the</strong> local<br />
cultivar (Daniel, 1999, personal communication).<br />
Studies were also undertaken to select high yielding cultivars based on <strong>the</strong>ir<br />
flowering pattern. In seedling populations, early, mid and late flowering<br />
tamarind types have been identified. Duration of flowering is longer in late<br />
flowering trees than in mid and early flowering trees. In mid and late<br />
flowering trees natural cross-pollination is greater than with early flowering<br />
trees which are mostly self-pollinated under natural conditions. Hence mid<br />
and late flowering trees can be selected and are most suitable <strong>for</strong> selection<br />
<strong>for</strong> improvement (Usha and Singh, 1994).<br />
There is also interest in India in using fruit tree genotypes <strong>for</strong> ameliorating<br />
marginal farmland, e.g. in semi-arid areas of Gujarat (see <strong>for</strong> instance Patel<br />
and Singh, 2000), or wastelands as in Tamil Nadhu (see Madhu et al., 2001).<br />
Pareek (1999) lists selections ‘Yogesharai’, ‘PKM’, ‘T3’ and ‘TIB’ as<br />
suitable cultivars <strong>for</strong> arid zones.<br />
8.3.4 Current constraints<br />
The preliminary studies undertaken by different countries provide ample<br />
evidence on <strong>the</strong> status of germplasm evaluations of tamarind. It is also<br />
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