Genetic Diversity and Status of Ziziphus in India

Indian jujube known as ber (Ziziphus mauritiana Lam.) is an extremely drought hardy and native fruit of India. It is a dominant component of the natural vegetation in the Indian Thar desert. It can be successfully cultivated even in the most marginal ecosystem of the tropics and subtropics. There are 90,000 ha plantation of improved ber trees. The average productivity is 8.34 tons ha(-1). Genetic diversity of Ziziphus is high in India and about 20 species are found between 8.5-32.5 degrees N and 69-84 degrees E. Economically important species are Z. nummularia, Z. oenoplia, Z. rugosa, Z. sativa, Z. vulgaris and Z. xylopyrus. The ability of Ziziphus species and different varieties/types within mauritiana to cross freely has allowed the build up of rich gene pool which depicts heterozygosity in their adaptability to soil and climate; morphological, physiological and phenological traits; chromosome number; tolerance/resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses and genomic DNA. The germplasm holding of ber at Central Institute for Arid horticulture (CIAH), the largest in India, consist of total 333 accessions, comprising cultivars, indigenous and exotic selections and rootstocks. From the diverse germplasm at CIAH and All India Coordinating Centres working under the aegis of CIAH, considerable basic information on growth and development, floral biology and cytology of a good number of ber cultivars has been generated. Besides, promising germplasms with distinctive traits such as desired adaptation (Gola, Umran, Thar Bhubhraj, Thar Sevika), diverse quality traits (Banarasi Karaka, Illaichi), high and stable yield (Seb, Ponda), tolerance to biotic and abiotic stress (Tikadi, Katha, Bawal-Sel-1, Sanaur-2) have been identified which have comparative advantages to improve the productivity of this important arid fruit crop. Genetic Status of Ziziphus in India along with future line of work are discussed in this paper.