Plant Introduction-Achievements and Opportunities in Fruit and Plantation Crops in South Asia

Abstract

South Asia comprising of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India,
Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka grows more
than 40 fruit and 7 plantation crops commercially and
is a centre of rich variability/gene pool for various fruit
and plantation crops. Among these, India is known to
be the primary centre of origin for many tropical and
subtropical fruits like aonla, bael, ber, bilimbi, citrus,
garcinia, jack fruit, jamun, karonda, khejri, lasora,
mango, phalsa, pi/u, tamarind, wood apple, etc and
secondary centre of origin for apple, banana, cashew,
coconut, mulberry, pomegranate, Prunus, Pyrus, Rubus,
etc. Many of these fruits are also known to have major
centre of diversity in other countries of South Asia.
Many of the fruit crops although not originated in this
region, have a wide range of variability owing to long
period ofdomestication and diverse climatic and growing
conditions resultantly a rich gene pool for genetic
enhancement.