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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degree of sweetness. In <strong>the</strong> Philippines eight recognised cultivars are grown<br />
by farmers while over 50 are grown in Thailand. Specific sweet and sour<br />
cultivars also exist in <strong>the</strong> east and nor<strong>the</strong>rn parts of Uganda and Kenya.<br />
Table 8.3 lists <strong>the</strong> most popular improved cultivars in those countries.<br />
Table 8.3 Selected tamarind cultivars<br />
Country Cultivar<br />
Thailand Muen Chong, Sri Tong, Nam Pleung, Jac Hom, Kun Sun,<br />
Kru Sen, Nazi Zad, Sri Chompoo<br />
Philippines<br />
India<br />
Cavite, Batangas, Bulacan, and Laguna<br />
Prathisthan, Periyakulam (PKM 1), Urigam<br />
8.5 Genetic conservation<br />
Although wild and naturalised tamarind is widely available, some genetic<br />
erosion is occurring in most areas due to rapid de<strong>for</strong>estation resulting from<br />
rural development and urbanisation. Population pressure on limited<br />
ecosystems and resources is causing rapid and damaging shifts in land use<br />
patterns with increasing areas being planted with perennial cash crops.<br />
Selective felling of individual trees of tamarind <strong>for</strong> timber and fuelwood in<br />
rural locations can also cause genetic erosion as farmers’ selections are lost.<br />
Instances of loss of germplasm have been reported in different countries.<br />
The development of <strong>the</strong> Mahaweli River Development Project in <strong>the</strong> dry<br />
zone of Sri Lanka removed 200,000 ha of dry zone <strong>for</strong>est in which tamarind<br />
thrived in <strong>for</strong>est ecosystems. In sou<strong>the</strong>rn Malawi de<strong>for</strong>estation is reported to<br />
be <strong>the</strong> major cause <strong>for</strong> <strong>the</strong> loss of wild and semi wild fruits trees such as<br />
<strong>Tamarind</strong>us indica, Ficus spp., Annona senegalensis and o<strong>the</strong>rs. Here,<br />
tamarind is reported to be one of <strong>the</strong> most important indigenous fruit trees<br />
<strong>for</strong> consumption and sale in <strong>the</strong> Mangochi district of Malawi, but <strong>the</strong><br />
numbers of trees are decreasing at a high rate and becoming rare: this is now<br />
of concern to <strong>the</strong> local communities. (Maliro and Kwapata, 2002).<br />
A strategy <strong>for</strong> such fruit trees should be promoted to include conservation,<br />
enhanced domestication and systematic germplasm maintenance in working<br />
collections to back up improvement activities.<br />
Options <strong>for</strong> genetic conservation include ex situ management, one of <strong>the</strong><br />
easiest and most economically and socially acceptable method <strong>for</strong> tamarind<br />
conservation (Singha, 1995). In this way, phenotypically superior<br />
germplasm is collected from different regions and multiplied through<br />
vegetative propagation and maintained in clonal orchards. The totally<br />
inadequate ex situ conservation collections are given in Appendix II. Seed<br />
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