Patch budding in khejri (Prosopis cineraria)

摘要

Fruit production in arid environment is beset with biophysical constraints, the most prominent being related to water stress in soil and atmosphere. A few plant species are adapted to this agroclimate. Some of them also produce edible fruits. Khejri[Prosopis cineraria (L.) Druce] is one such versatile plant species. It readily perpetuates itself from the dispersed seeds, producing edible pods even during extremely warm summer months of April-May (Fig. 1). This is due to its nitrogen-fixing rhizobial assoication and resistance to drought. Immature pods (Fig. 2) of P. cineraria are used as vegetable. Fresh pods are used immediately after harvesting. But these are generally dehydrated and stored for future use. A wide range of variability (Fig. 3) in pod quality traits has been observed in natural stands of P. cineraria in north-western Rajasthan (Pareek and Nath, 6; Nath et al., 9). Pod quality varies with respect to taste (flat, bitter, acrid and sweet), tenderness (tender, semi-hard and hard), seed number, seed size and contents of protein and minerals. Only a few trees produce good quality pods. Elite trees producing such pods were identified from the existing biodiversity (Pareek and Nath, 6).