Wood Apple Variability - An Underutilized Dry Land Fruit from Gujarat, India

Abstract

Preponderance of wood apple seedlings are seen growing naturally at scattered/isolated areas of various agro climatic zones of Gujarat, India, and chance for the selection of superior genotypes are very high due to huge genetic diversity in the exiting populations. In order to reveal the genetic variability in wood apple, as fruit sample with shoot from diverse areas of province were collected and analysed for various physic-chemical attributes. Results of study revealed wide range of variability found with respect to fruit weight, leaf; spine and fruit quality traits among the studied genotypes. This variability can be exploited for the selection of superior genotype for conservation, evaluation, utilization, and a source for future breeding programme in crop improvement.