Variability in bael accessions from Bihar and Jharkhand

摘要

Bael (Aegle marmelos Corr.) also known as Shri Phal or Baelpatra is one of the under-utilized native fruits of Indo-Malaysian region. The ripe fruits are laxative and unripe fruits are prescribed for diarrhoea and dysentery and have a great demand inAyurvedic system of medicine. The bitter, pungent leaf juice, mixed with honey is given to allay catarrh and fever. With black pepper added, it is taken to relieve jaundice and constipation accompanied by edema. All the parts of tree, whether stem, bark,root, leaves or fruits at different maturity stages have some use or the other. It is also used in the preparation of several Ayurvedic medicines since ancient times (Rai etal., 12). In India, it is found in wild form in sub-Himalayan tract and in dry deciduous forest of central and southern Indian region (Pandey et al., 8) since prehistoric times and therefore, a large number of land races are available in the different diversity regions. A wide range of diversity of bael tree has been noticed in drysubtropical belt of north India. The plains of Bihar and plateau regions of Jharkhand have wide distribution of bael genotypes particularly in dry, undulating/forest lands. Recently, few cultivars have been identified and found useful for commercial cultivation i.e., NB-5 and NB-9 from NDUA&T, Faizabad (Pareek and Nath, 10), Pant Aparna, Pant Shivani, Pant Sujata and Pant Urvashi from GBPUA&T, Pantnagar (Singh etal., 14) and CISH-B-1, CISH-B-2 from CISH, Lucknow (Pathak et al., 11). The location specific genotypes need to be identified and evaluated in iso-climatic regions to develop good cultivars. The genotypes of bael germplasm spread over different parts of the country have enormous variability with regard to qualitative and quantitative characters(Singh and Roy, 15). Some superior genotypes known by locals pieople are on the verge of extinction due to urbanization and there is an immediate need to conserve them for the use of posterity (Rai et al., 12). East-central India has high level of variability in bael land races. Therefore, a survey was conducted in high variability region of Bihar and Jharkhand with a view to identify superior genotypes for various traits.