India enjoys the distinction of having the largest cultivated area of 26.8 m ha. of land under oilseed cultivation, which constitute nearly 6 per cent of India's GNP (Vishwa Nath and Chhotey Lal, 1995). Historically an exporter of oilseeds and oils, India has in the past three decades slid to a position of anet importer of oil due to steadily widening gap between supply and demand. As per estimate the oilseed production has been 25.3 million tones (1999-2000) and the import bill of oilseed amounted to Rs. 9400 crores (Anon., 2000). A technology mission on oilseeds (TMO) has been set up to device ways and means to increase indigenous production and achieve self-sufficiency in oilseeds. Major thrust is to increase the productivity of principal oilseeds like groundnut, rape/mustard and several other oilseeds and some new have been gradually developed and thus offer good scope in augmenting supply. One suchpotential source is tree borne oilseeds (TBO) usually referred to as non-traditional or minor oilseeds.
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