Jamun

Jamun

1. PAWAN NAGAR M.Sc. (Horti.) Fruit science REG. NO: 04-2690-2015

2. Botanical name: Syzygium cumini (L.) Skeels , syn. Syzygium jambolanum DC.; Eugenia cumini Druce Common name: English -Java plum, Black plum, Vernacular –Jamun Family: Myrtaceae Chromosome number: 2n=40 INTRODUCTION

3. Jamun tree is generally grown as avenue tree or as wind break. Jamun ` is a kind of `Java Plum` that is a medium-sized or large tree with a straight trunk . The tropical tree is graceful in form and evergreen. It is a native to India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Burma and Sri Lanka and very much recognizable to most of the people for its medicinal properties. According to Hindu tradition, Lord Rama subsisted on the fruit in the forest for 14 years during his exile from Ayodhya . Because of this, many Hindus regard Jamun as a `fruit of the gods, ` especially in Gujarat , India, where it is known locally as jamboon.

4. The jamun is native to India, Burma, Ceylon and to the Andaman Islands (Zeven and de Wet, 1982) and available throughout Indian plains up to the height of 1300 m . It is found grown as a wild and semi-wild in the states of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Besides , S. cumini other important species in India is S. jumbos (Rose apple or Safed jamun) found in south India, West Bengal and Assam. Other species of minor importance are S. fruiticosum, S. javanica (water apple), S. densiflora, S. Uniflora (Surinam cherry) and S. Zeylanica. ORIGIN AND DISTRIBUTION

5. FLORAL BIOLOGY

6. Inflorescence in jamun is generally borne in the axils of leaves on branchlet. The flowering start in first week of March and continues upto first week of April . The flowers are hermaphrodite, light yellow in colour. The maximum anthesis ( 18.71% to 43.08%) and dehiscence were recorded between 10 am and 12 noon. The maximum receptivity of stigma was observed one day after anthesis ( Misra and Bajpai, 1975). FLORAL BIOLOGY, POLLINATION AND FRUIT SET

7. The inflorescence was terminal or lateral and developed mostly on current season growth and one year old shoots . Flowers were regular, bisexual with five free sepals and petals, 8 stamens and a simple style. Anthesis started at about 8 am and took 10 hours to complete. Maximum numbers of flowers opened between 5 and 6 pm. Anthesis in some flowers was also observed in the morning between 5 and 6 am. Dehiscence of anthers started just after opening of flowers . The jamun is a cross – pollinated crop . The pollination is done by honey bees, houseflies and winds.

8. There is about 65% flower and fruit drop in the first five weeks and since then a maximum of 19-21% of flower and fruits drop off up to maturity. Only 12- 15% flower reach maturity . The flower and fruit drop are found at 3 stages The first drop takes place during bloom or shortly thereafter, and this proves to be heaviest drop as about 52% of the flower drop off after 4 weeks from flowering. The second drop starts after about 35-45 days after full bloom. The third drop starts after 45-50 days of full bloom and continues up to 15 th July . It can be reduced by 2 spray of 60 ppm GA 3 , one at full bloom and the other 15 days after initial setting fruit.

9. Jamun is commonly propagated through seeds (Singh et al ., 2007). Seeds are highly recalcitrant in nature and freshly extracted seeds can be sown for raising seedlings. Seeds germinate within two weeks and can be transplanted during monsoon season in the field. In jamun upto 50 per cent polyembryony is reported and true-to-type nucellar seedlings are produced (Singh et al ., 2007). Vegetative propagation using various budding methods have been successful, however, patch budding has been reported to be the most successful in the months of March in semiarid areas (Singh and Singh, 2006). PROPAGATION

10. Soft wood grafting has also been successful for multiplication in Karnataka and Gujarat in the months of June and August, respectively (Singh and Singh, 2006). Unripe , semi-ripe and ripe jamun fruit bunch

11. In jamun there are no standard cultivars available, however, several area-specific local selections have been identified by farmers or local people since historical time. All these local selection or types are based on fruit size, shape, taste, fruiting period and maturity of fruits . One popular type natural selection famous in North India is known as ‘Ra Jamun’ (Singh et al ., 2007), which is grown widely. Some local farmers selections growing in Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh are Badama (large size and very juicy fruits), Kaatha (with small and acidic fruits), Jathi (maturing in June or Jeth), Ashada (maturing in June or Ashad) and still late type Bhado (maturing in August). CULTIVARS/SELECTIONS

12. COLLECTION Jamun germplasm has been widely collected from throughout India and vast variability has been recorded in tree physiology and fruit characters and flowering and fruiting period. Germplasm have been collected from various parts of Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. Survey has been made by CISH, Lucknow in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra and Gujarat and 54 accessions have been collected. GENETIC RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

13. NBPGR, New Delhi have also made extensive collections in the parts of Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh in collaboration with CHES (CIAH) Godhra and CISH, Lucknow and 20 elite accession have been collected . Jamun germplasm collected from various sources as described under collection has been characterized for various horticultural traits such as flowering, fruiting and physico-chemical characters of fruits like fruit weight, pulp content, TSS, acidity etc.

14. On the basis of characterization of collected germplasm several elite genotypes have been identified from Maharashtra, No. 15, 4, 14 and 13 (Keskar et al., 1989), eight genotypes grouped into two categories: ovoid and oblong from eastern Uttar Pradesh (Singh et al., 1999), from West Bengal germplasm Selection 1 (oval shaped large fruits) and Selection 2 (cylindrical shaped medium sized fruit) proved better for yield and quality fruits (Kundu et al., 2001); from Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand the genotypes RNC-26 and RNC-11 were found promising for higher pulp and fruits weight (Devi et al., 2002), from Gujarat 5 genotypes GJ-18, GJ-19, GJ-23, GJ-24 and GJ-25 have been identified for overall performance (Singh and Singh, 2005). CHARACTERIZATION

15. A total of 20 diverse jamun accessions collected by NBPGR from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh were characterized for fruit and seed characters. The lightest fruit weighed 3.04 gm and heaviest weighed 8.84 gm which is depicting a large variation. TSS in fruits was also variable ranging from 5.96 to 14.2 ºB. Seed length x width ranged from 1.62 cm x 3.02 cm to 2.62 cm x 4.30 cm. The pulp weight showed large variation from 1.24 to 6.96 gm. The accessions which showed largest fruits with highest pulp weight were IC537858, 537848, 537846 and 537853. Fruits with high TSS value were found in accessions IC537842, 537854 and 537845 . Smallest seeds were seen in accessions IC537860, 537849 and 537850.

16. Germplasm of Jamun is being maintained at very few places in the field genebanks, important field genebanks are CISH, Lucknow, CHES (CIAH) Godhra and MPKV, Rahuri. There is need to establish promising seedling selections and local farmers selections in the field genebanks to conserve the elite germplasm as true-to-type and use them for crop improvement. Being a highly recalcitrant species laboratory conservation in the cryobank is difficult in jamun. Studies undertaken at NBPGR revealed that seeds loose viability very rapidly as by 30 days storage at room temperature, 50% viability is lost. CONSERVATION

17. To get high yielding variety. Early maturing variety. Improved physico-chemical characteristics like fruit weight, pulp content, TSS, acidity etc. Resistant against flower and fruit drop. BREEDING OBJECTIVE

18. SELECTION At present, there are no. of seedling strain of jamun in India which provide a good scope for selection of better cultivars. The important criteria for selection should be oval or oblong shape of fruit, deep purple or bluish black colour, large big size, more pulp, small stone, juiciness, earliness and sweetness . BREEDING AND IMPROVEMENT

19. In West-Bengal, Percy Lancaster and Bose (1965) noted that F 1 hybrid of a cross between the Alba variety of water apple ( S. javanicum ) and rose apple ( S. jambos ) posses prolific fruiting habit but the fruits are seeded and larger than those of the either parent, have fragnant and sweetness of rose apple . Two or three flushes of flower come every year, but in first flowering maximum no. of fruit is obtained. This hybrid is easily propagated by cuttings and gives large no. of fruit in third year of planting. HYBRIDIZATION

20. MICROPROPAGATION Nodal segments, shoot apices and epicotyl segments have been used as explants . Yadav et al . (1990) induced multiple shoots from nodal and shoot tip segments of 10-15 days old seedlings of S. cumini on modified MS medium containing supplemented with BA (0.23 – 8.90 µM) singly or in combination with NAA, IAA or IBA . The regenerated plantlets were acclimatized and successfully transferred into the soil. BIOTECHNOLOGY

21. Very little work has been done on somatic embryogenesis of jamun. Litz (1984) cultured immature fruits of naturally polyembryonic species E . jambos and E. Malaccensis on modified MS medium. Depending on the developmental stage of the adventitious embryos, proliferation of axillary buds occurred on medium with 2-10 mg/l BA, whereas germination occurred at lower BA concentrations or in the absence of growth regulators . Roy et al. (1996) induced multiple shoots from nodal explants of 10 years old elite trees of S. cumini on MS medium supplemented with 2.5 mg kinetin / L. Repeated subculture resulted in rapid shoot multiplication at an average rate of 10 shoots per subculture. SOMATIC EMBRYOGENESIS

22. Jain and Babbar ( 2000) obtained multiple shoots from the epicotyls segments bearing scaly leaves, excised from in-vitro grown seedlings of S. cumini , on MS medium supplemented with different concentrations of BA (1- 2 mg/l). An average of 8.6 shoots per explant were produced in 60 days after inoculation, following transfer to fresh medium after 30 days.

23. Heavy flower and fruit drop. Problem of polyembryony making in identification of hybrid seed. Prolonged interval between germination and long juvenile phase with hybrids taking 5-6 yrs to bear fruit. It also requires vast land because of wide planting distance and long period of experimentation required to obtain result. LIMITATIONS

24. Since Jamun germplasm has been widely found throughout India and vast variability has been recorded in tree physiology and fruit characters and flowering and fruiting period, it can be utilize for breeding purposes so as to fulfil all breeding objectives. FUTURE AREA