eChapters

INTRODUCTION

Sapota [Manilkara zapota (L) P. Royen] commonly known as chiku in India, is an exotic fruit crop originated in Tropical America. The name sapodilla is derived from the Spanish word zapotilla, meaning “small sapote.” Tree have dark green beautiful radiating canopy with central flag having aesthetic values.It is a popular crop widely cultivated in most tropical countries. The cultivation of sapota is a profitable venture as it does not need much spraying, pruning and it is a long-life fruit tree. Moreover, the fruit fetches good price in market as it ripens in April and May in North India, when mango and litchi fruits are scarce. At international level in India crop attained an important place in fruit industry. In India this fruit species is cultivated only for its delicious fruit for table purpose but in South America, it is cultivated for chickle the “gutta parcha” which is used as base material for chewing gum.This is extracted from bark. Sapota fruit present a climacteric behavior. In India farmer from Bordi village near Gholwad, late Sri Gopal Rao Patil realized the commercial potential of this evergreen and ever fruiting tree and procured a few plants and began to propagate for distribution among poor farmers of this area and within short time it had spread from Palghar in Maharashtra to Amalsad in Gujarat. Subsequently commercial cultivation in his region was helped by lranis and Marwari settlers. The best sapota orchards in this area belong to lranis and Marwaris. It is from this area that this fruit went to various other parts of the country like Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka, Punjab and Haryana etc. In India crop become very popular among farmers as a cash crop. There is a possibility of extending cultivation of this crop into warm and humid climate of all tropical regions of the world. In India area under this crop increasing every year. Therefore, in recent years, it has attained the status of major fruit in peninsular India. Popularity of this fruit is on increase due to high production per unit area and continuous fruiting throught out the year.

INTRODUCTION

Cashew nut (Anacardium occidentale L.), in the current global scenario, has attained the status of economically important crop with considerable export potential. Ancient sea route traders have been responsible for the spread of cashew from Brazil, its native, to other parts of tropical and sub tropical regions. In the rainforest areas with hot and humid regions of North east Brazil that the people from the long past knew to roast and use the cashew kernels. The owning of cashew trees meant the wealth, prosperity and social status of the family even in those days around 1500 AD in Tropical American region. The commercial importance of cashew nuts was not aggressively known at the time of its initial introduction into Asian and African countries.

INTRODUCTION

Custard apple (Annona squamosa L.) is considered as one of the delicious fruit meant for table purpose. In India, during the year 2014-15 the area under cultivation of custard apple was 29870 ha with production of 228370 tones and productivity of 7.65 tones ha-1 (Anon, 2015a). In Maharashtra, the area increased by 9 to 10 times recently i.e. since 1990 onward, after start of Economic Guarantee Scheme (EGS) of Government of Maharashtra. Hence, Maharashtra is the leading state in custard apple production, wherein during the year 2014-15, the area, production and productivity of custard apple was 8660 ha, 59330 tones and 6.85 tones, respectively. This accounts about 25.98 per cent share of the state in the national production. This is followed by Gujarat, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. (Anon, 2015a). The largest area of nearly one third of the Maharashtra State is in Purandar tahsil of Pune district. An average production of custard apple in Purandar area is about six tons ha–1. The farmers fetch high economic returns at very low input cost. Besides, export quality fruits get very high price ranging from Rs. 70 to 800 kg-1 (Anon, 1998) in foreign countries.

INTRODUCTION

Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam) belongs to family Moraceae. It is popularly known as ‘Poor Man’s food’ in eastern and southern India. It is also known as Kanthal, Kathal, Penasa, Kontaka and Phanas in India. Jackfruit is a very unique fruit crop and common tree of low land tropics and grows well without much care. It has considerable potential but it is yet to receive due attention. It is mainly grown in homestead for domestic uses and as a shade tree in coffee or cardamom plantations. It is cultivated in India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia and Nepal. India is the second largest producer of jackfruit in the world and is considered as ‘Mother land of jackfruit’. In India, it is widely distributed in Assam, Tripura, Bihar Uttar Pradesh, and foot hills of Himalaya, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry and Maharashtra (Sidhu, 2012). It is seldom grown in an organized form as that of other fruit crops viz. mango, guava, etc. Most of the jackfruit trees are observed in kitchen garden or orchards of other fruit crops, roadside or in forests. Well managed orchards of jackfruit are seen in Panruti area of Pondicherry, where the production is at almost throughout the year. At present the area under jackfruit in the country is 157.58 (000’ ha) and the production is 1572.87 (000’ MT) (Anon. 2015).

INTRODUCTION
 
Citrus is the most economically important fruit crops widely grown in developed and developing countries of the world and is one of the main sources of vitamin C. There is also an increasing demand of “high quality fresh citrus” driven by World Health Organization recommendations. Citrus fruits contain the largest number of carotenoids found in any fruit and extensive array of secondary compounds with pivotal nutritional properties such as vitamin E, provitamin A, flavonoids, limonoids, polysaccharides, lignin, fiber, phenolic compounds, essential oils etc. These substances greatly contribute to the supply of anticancer agents and other nutraceutical compounds with anti-oxidant, inflammatory, cholesterol and allergic activities, all of them are essential to prevent cardiovascular and degenerative diseases, thrombosis, cancer, atherosclerosis and obesity. In spite of these beneficial traits there is still a major need to improve fruit quality to meet current consumer’s demand.

INTRODUCTION

Grape (Vitis vinifera L.) is one of the important fruit crop in world grown commercially in temperate, tropical and sub-tropical regions. At present, it is one of the major horticultural industries over an area of 7.5 million hectares. Grape berries are attractive for their unique flavour and are utilized in many different ways, so its cultivation is becoming more popular. Approximately 71% of world grape production is used in wine industry, 27% as fresh fruits and only 2% as dried fruit. China is the largest producer of grapes followed by Italy, USA, France and Spain. In world, India hold 9th position in grapes production with an annual production of 2822.78 thousand MT.Peninsular India comprise of accounts for 90 % area under grapes. India has the distinction of having highest productivity (21.4 MT/ha) of grapes in the world

INTRODUCTION

The pomegranate(Punica granatum L.) is one of the oldest known edible fruits, occupies the eighteenth place among the main world-fruit cultures.The fruit was naturalized throughout the Mediterranean region through ancient times and today the main areas of world production are Turkey, Spain and California. Around the world pomegranates are generally grown in Mediterranean climates, often with very warm dry summers (Wetzstein et al., 2011). During recent past, this ancient fruit has emerged as commercially important fruit, owing to its enormous medicinal and nutritional properties, built-in ability to tolerate heat and drought, low resource input demanding nature and high returns on investment (Singh et al.,2012). The fruit has growing consumer demand both for fresh use as well as processing into juice, syrup, squash and anardana (an acidulant product), owing to its attractive, juicy, and refreshing arils (Pruthi and Saxena, 1984).

INTRODUCTION

The ber or Indian jujube (Ziziphus mauritiana Lamk.) in the most common fruit crop grown in arid and irrigated zones of Indian sub-continent. It is one of ancient fruits of India which is cultivated practically all over the country for its fresh consumption. Ber is a tropical as well as subtropical fruit and can be successfully cultivated even in the most marginal eco-system of tropics and subtropics. Ber is a hardy fruit tree and is best known for growing under adverse soil and climatic conditions. It can thrive well even in drought, water-logged and salinity conditions. It is common notion among the people that ber is a poor man’s fruit. It is one of the most nutritious fruit compared to other ones. The grafted varieties of ber fetch even higher price in the market than several other fruits. Hence, ber stands no longer the poor man’s fruit. Now, ber growing has received a great attention and preferred as a commercial fruit crop in North Indian states like Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh on account of its potential for higher yield and good economic return to the growers. Moreover, the tree has less water need in the summer months during the period of dormancy, thus considered an ideal fruit for cultivation in the arid and semi-arid regions of North India. Apart from ber, no other fruit trees grow wild so extensively in this region, thus it is becoming popular among the growers.

INTRODUCTION

Litchi(Litchi chinensis) is an important sub-tropical evergreen fruit crop. The tree bears heart-shaped, conical, or spherical drupaceous fruits with a thin, indehiscent pericarp that surrounds the sweet, translucent, succulent, and juicy aril. Although litchi originated in the Asia-Pacific region, orchards are found in more than 80 countries. Having introduced into India by the end of the 17th century, litchi is an important fruit crop in India and is a source of livelihood to millions especially in the Gangetic plains along the foothills of the Himalayas where the crop is grown popularly. Bihar is the major litchi-producing state in India accounting for about 37% of both national acreage and production. Muzaffarpur is famous for its Shahi litchi and is popularly referred to as the ‘Litchi City’ or ‘Litchi Hub’.In India it is grown in an area of about 85000 ha with total production of 528000 MT. Bihar is followed by West Bengal, Jharkhand and Assam in terms of production, while the highest productivity of litchi (16 MT/ha) is reported from Punjab.

INTRODUCTION

Aonla or Indian gooseberry (Emblica officinalis Gaertn.) is an important indigenous minor fruit grown in tropical and subtropical regions of India. It is known with many vernacular names such as amla, aura, amlaki, nelli, amolphal, amlakamu, amlet, amlay. Aonla, cultivation is highly remunerative due to its high productivity even on marginal lands. The plant is quite hardy, heavy bearer giving better income to the farmers. It can be grown successfully in marginal soil and various kinds of wasteland conditions such as sodic and saline soils, ravines, dry and semi dry regions.

INTRODUCTION

Loquat (Eriobotrya Japonica Lindl.) is an evergreen fruit tree and grown extensively in subtropical regions of world which belongs to family Rosaceae. It is also known as Japanese Plum or Japanese Medlar. The word Eriobotrya has been derived from two greek words i.e ‘erion’ and ‘botrys’ meaning wool and cluster respectively which stands for wooly inflorescence The plant is often planted in parks and gardens due to its ornamental appearance. The fruit of loquat is available in the months of March - April when very few fresh fruits are available and fetches maximum returns.

INTRODUCTION

Jamun (Syzygium cumini (L) Skeels Syn Eugenia jambolana Lamk.) is an important commercial indigenous minor fruit of India and is highly suitable for avenue and for social forestry plantation. It belongs to family Myrtaceae. The other major plants belong to this family are eucalyptus, bottle brush and cloves. It is known by different names like black plum, Indian black berry, Ram jamun, jambolan, Jambul and Phalinda in different parts of country. Trees are found growing throughout the tropics and subtropics as an avenue plantation on road side, school, religious places and as wind break around the orchards. It is also occurs in the lower range of the Himalayas up to an elevation of 1,300 meters and in the Kumaon hills up to 1,600 meters above mean sea level. It is widely grown in the larger parts of India from the Indo-Gangetic plains in the North to Tamil Nadu in the South. The importance of this fruit is increasing day by day due to increasing awareness of hypoglycemic properties of this fruit against diabetics. It is adequately rich in antioxidants.

INTRODUCTION

The avocado (Persea americana Mill) is the highly nutritive fruit. Its common names are alligator pear or butter fruit in English; Aguacate, Palta in Spanish and Avokado in Afrikaans. It is an evergreen sub-tropical fruit. 

NUTRITIVE AND CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE

Avocado is the most nutritive among fruits. The pulp is rich in proteins and fat, but low in carbohydrates. Avocados have the highest energy value of 245 cal/100 g and reservoir of several vitamins and minerals. Avocado is rich in copper and iron, potassium and is associated with lower blood pressure as it is high in monounsaturated fat. It contains all amino acids. Another benefit is avocados shown to maintain good cholesterol while reducing bad cholesterol and triglyceride level.. Avocado is considered healthy for heart ,good for digestion and vision. It is a natural detoxification fruit and may help in preventing osteoporosis
Avocado is mainly used fresh, in sandwich filling or in salads. It can also be used in ice creams and milk shakes and the pulp may be preserved by freezing. The fat in avocado is similar to olive oil in composition and is widely used in the preparation of cosmetics.

INTRODUCTION

Phalsa, Grewia subinaequalis DC (syn. Grewia asiatica L.) is native to the Indian sub-continent and South-East Asia and belongs to family Tiliaceae, to which jute, our major money earning fiber crop, also belongs.Phalsa has been mentioned in our Vedic books and is native to India and other parts of southeast Asia, including Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. It is known by many names viz., Hindi (Phalsa, Shukri, Tadachi, Dhaman, Parusha); English (Indian phalsa, phalsa); Bengali (Phalsa, Shunkri); Kannada(Phulsa), Telegu (Phutiki), Tamil (Unnu), Malayalam (Chadicha) Gujarati (Shukri), Filipino (Bariuangulod) and Thai (Potaohai,Yapkheethao,Malai,Laikhon). The plant is commonly known as Gangeran. Grewia species is one of the best examples of multipurpose fruit species which are useful source of food, fodder, fiber, fuelwood, timber and a range of traditional medicines which cure a number of diseases (Sharma and Patni, 2012). 

INTRODUCTION
    
The date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) is considered to be oldest among the domesticated tree fruits. It considered a symbol of life in desert because it tolerate high temperature, drought and salinity more than many other fruits. Date palm fruits are eaten as raw dates (Khalal stage), Soft dates (Tamar stage) and dry dates (Chhuhara). Different processed products viz sugar, starch, vinegar, juice, toffies, wine, chutney, jam, pickels etc. are prepared from date fruits. Leaves of date palm trees are utilized for preparation of baskets, brooms, ropes, building materials, fuel and paper. The plantation is also useful for stabilization and maintenance of ecological balance in the desert regions

INTRODUCTION

Fig  (Ficus carica L.) is commonly known as Anjeer. It has a luscious taste as a fresh fruit. The fruit of fig have been prized over centuries for the medicinal and dietary properties. The figs are consumed fresh, dried, preserved, candied, jam and canned. 

NUTRITIVE AND CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE

Medicinal Uses:The latex is widely applied on warts, skin ulcers and sores, and taken as a purgative and vermifuge, but with considerable risk. In Latin America, figs are much employed as folk remedies. A decoction of the fruits is gargled to relieve sore throat. Figs boiled in milk are repeatedly packed against swollen gums. Similarly, the fruits are much used as poultices on tumors and other abnormal growths. The leaf decoction is taken as a remedy for diabetes and calcifications in the kidneys and liver. Fresh and dried figs have long been appreciated for their laxative action. The food value of edible portion of fig (Morton, 1997) is given in detail in Table 1. 

INTRODUCTION

The apple ( Malus x domestica Borkh.) is an important temperate fruit, grown in areas experiencing cold winters, frost free springs and mild summer. The genus Malus has 25 species. Apple is considered best premier table fruit of the world. The commercially grown cultivars of apple are sweet, juicy and have a pleasing grainy texture. Apple is the most important crop or cash crop of hilly states and occupy 49 per cent of the total area under fruit crop.

Nutritive and Cultural Significance

Apple fruit is in rich source of proteins, minerals, potassium, thiamine, vitamin B6 and carbohydrates. Apple fruits contains sugars (sucrose, glucose, fructose), dextrins, starch, hemicellulose, cellulose and pectin substances. Maleic acid is the major acid of apple fruits. The fruit contain Carbohydrates 14.5 per cent, protein 0.3 per cent, potassium 110 mg, phosphorus 10 mg, iron 0.12 mg and calcium 6 mg per 100 g of fruit. Among the vitamins, it contain vitamin C 10-40 mg, vitamin A 90-120 1U, thiamine (B1) 0.017 mg, Riboflavin 0.026 mg per 100g of fruit. Apple fruit contains 86 per cent water content.

INTRODUCTION

Pear is one of the important fruit crops of temperate regions of India after apple. It is one of the few fruit crops that is adaptable to wide range of climatic conditions. It belongs to genus Pyrus and family Rosaceae, subfamily Pomoideae. The pear belong to three categories i.e. European pear (Pyrus communis L.), Japanese or Asian pear (Pyrus pyrifolia (Burm F.) Nakai, var. Culta) and their hybrids (Pyrus communis x Pyrus pyrifolia) are grown commercially in different parts of the country. Asian or Japanese pears are crisp and juicy with some having apple like flavour. European pears are very soft and have melting texture. Japanese pear has gained importance as a commercial crop in Northern India. The area under this pear has been increasing due to its high yield potential and good economic returns.

INTRODUCTION

Peach [Prunus persica (L.) Batsch] is a temperate origin crop but well adapted to sub-tropical regions. It is an important fruit crop of Rosaceae family and is the third most important temperate tree fruit species behind apples and pears. Trees of most peach cultivars require from 100–1000 hours of chilling.

NUTRITIVE AND CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE

Peaches are good source of sugars, vitamins and minerals. It has a rich source of vitamins A and C and also contains potassium and fibre. The fruit has over 80% water and one average sized peach have 7% of the dietary fibre which is required each day. It helps in maintaining healthy vision, skin care, nervous system, healthy bones, and teeth. It has anti-aging properties and also helps in detoxification, as well as improving digestion and cellular health. It has a wealth of essential nutrients and antioxidants which are valuable during pregnancy and it helps in strengthening the immune system. Peaches contain carotenoids and anthocyanins which have antioxidant properties and act as a protective agent against various problems i.e inflammation, cancer, atherosclerosis, obesity, cholesterol and other circulatory problems (Prior and Cao 2000; Wargovich 2000).

INTRODUCTION

The European plum (Prunus domestica L.) is the most important plum species grown in different countries in the world. The Japanese plum (Prunus salicina Lindl.) is the next important species grown in many Asian countries. It is more vigorous, productive, precocious in bearing and more resistant to diseases than the European plum. The Japanese plum a temperate fruit is unique amongst the stone fruits. It is a strong small growing tree, performing well as major crop of hills and considered as important minor fruit crop in north India. Its low chilling varieties comes into the market when the other crops are scarce and find little competition in the market. The fruit growers are now preferred to grow Japanese plum on account of giving higher yield and excellent return per unit area. It is successfully grown in temperate zone and subtropical climate of northern Indian states. Moreover, it is preferred as filler tree in permanent orchards of mango, litchi and pear. It start bearing after 2-3 years of planting and giving good economic return to the growers during pre-bearing period of permanent fruit crops.

INTRODUCTION

Apricot (Prunus armeniaca L.), belongs to the family Rosaceae and is one of the most important fruit crop of mid hills and dry temperate regions of India. It was introduced in India by the European settlers and Missionaries in the late 19th century. Cultivated apricot has its origin in North-Eastern China, whereas wild apricot, popularly known as zardalu, appears to be indigenous to India. It grows wild in hills of Shimla and Kinnaur districts of Himachal Pradesh. Fruit is delicious, rich in vitamin A and contains more carbohydrates, proteins, phosphorous and niacin than many other common fruits. Besides its use as dessert, it is also canned and dried. Fruit is processed into jam, nectar and squash. The kernels are either sweet or bitter, depending upon the variety. The sweet kernels are used as a cheap substitute for almonds in pastries and confectionery. The bitter kernels are used for oil extraction. In India, apricot is grown commercially in the hills of Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh and to a limited extent in north eastern hills. Some drying type apricots are being grown in the dry temperate areas of Kinnaur and Lahaul Spiti in Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir.

INTRODUCTION

Persian walnut (Juglans regia L.) is of great importance across worldwide where nuts are harvested from wild stands, backyard gardens and rarely from commercial orchards that vary considerably in their size and degree of management. Nuts are collected for home consumption, sale at local roadside stands and markets and for shipping to cities. Walnut trees are further utilized for their high quality timber to make a wide array of products. The leaves, bark and other plant parts are used for medicinal remedies and trees are grown and maintained for soil conservation purposes (Mamadjanov, 2006b). A diverse mix of seedlings, local selections, and advanced cultivars are grown for nut production, many with unknown origins, including some of which are the direct result of selection from the wild.

INTRODUCTION

The cultivated almond (Prunus dulcis (Miller). D.A. Webb; Syn. Prunus amygdalus L. Batsch.) known as “Badam” in hindi is an important stone fruit tree species producing highly nourishing nuts of great medicinal value, called as almond. Badam Pappu (Telugu), Badam Paruppu (Tamil), Baadami (Kannada), Badam kayu (Malayalam) are other local names for almond in India. Surprisingly, the almond is not a true nut member, but rather is actually a family member of stone fruits such as nectarines, peaches, plums and cherries. For this reason, some people refer to an almond as a fruit. It is a medium sized deciduous tree belonging to Rosaceae family which produces edible seeds in hard outer shell and is cultivated mainly between latitudes 36o and 45o N. The almond is the most favoured nut with Indians and is very much relished by people. Spain , USA, Itlay, China, Iran, Greece, Tunisia, Turkey, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Algeria, Morroco, France, Persia and Syria are the important almond growing countries. In India it is mainly cultivated in the Kashmir valley and some parts of Himachal Pradesh.

INTRODUCTION

Kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa Chev.) also known as Chinese gooseberry, China’s Miracle Fruit and The Horticultural Wonder of New Zealand, belongs to family Actinidiaceae. It is native to Yangtze valley in north-west Hupeh and Szechuan provinces of China. The kiwifruit of international commerce are large – fruited selections of Actinidia deliciosa Planch and Actinidia deliciosa (A. Chev.) 
C F Liang and A. R. Ferguson. The name kiwifruit was derived from the kiwi, a flightless bird and New Zealand’s national symbol. Although this fruit vine originated in China, yet its full economic potential was exploited by the New Zealanders, which accounts for over 70 per cent of world trade. In other countries of the world, its cultivation gained momentum after 1960’s and now is cultivated on a commercial scale in USA, Italy, China, Japan, France, Germany, Chile and Australia

Kiwifruit is a perennial climbing or scrambling vine. Fruits are rusty brown with hairy surface and looks like a sapota fruit. Flesh is light green in colour with decorative pattern of lighter colored rays radiating from the center and embedded in between are many small, soft and dark seed. It is mostly eaten as fresh fruit or combined with other fruits in salad and desserts.

INTRODUCTION

Prunus avium, commonly called wild cherry, sweet cherry is a species of cherry, a flowering plant in the rose family Rosaceae. Cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus Prunus, and is a fleshy drupe (stone fruit) and packed with healthy nutrients and excellent antioxidants. Cherries are mostly eaten as dessert fruit or more conveniently in the brined, frozen or canned state. The cherry fruits of commerce usually are obtained from a limited number of species such as cultivars of the sweet cherry, Prunus avium. The name 'cherry' also refers to the cherry tree, and is sometimes applied to almonds and visually similar flowering trees in the genus Prunus, as in "ornamental cherry", "cherry blossom", etc. Wild cherry may refer to any of the cherry species growing outside of cultivation, although Prunus avium is often referred to specifically by the name "wild cherry" in the British Isles. Basically, cherries are native to Europe and Asia regions. De Candole reported that the cherry first grew wild in northern Persia and the Russian provinces south of the Caucasus. From there, it spread rapidly because they are attractive to birds; hence the name Prunus avium L. or bird cherry.

INTRODUCTION

The modern cultivated strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duch.) is one of the most widely distributed soft fruits of the world due to its genotypic diversity, highly heterozygous nature and broad range of environmental adaptations. It is one of the most delicious and refreshing soft fruit. Its plant is cherished in gardens as well as in commercial fields for its beautiful red fruit that has tantalizing aroma. Being nutritionally rich, strawberry has now become an important table fruit of millions of people around the globe. Its fruit is different from other fruits as their seeds are produced on outside of the fruit. Strawberry is unique fruit crop, which gives quicker and very high return per unit area on the capital investment, as the crop is ready for harvesting within six months of planting.

The strawberry fruits are highly perishable in nature and need quick disposal after harvest thus it has remarkable scope for its cultivation near the towns, cities and processing units where the fruits can be utilized or processed immediately after harvest. Over the last few years, continuous progress has been made in strawberry cultivation due to the use of micropropagation technique for plant propagation, day neutral cultivar, protected cultivation for multiple crops in a year and low tunnels in open field, which are useful for exploiting the tremendous potential of this small fruit crop.

INTRODUCTION

Persimmon is a subtropical fruit, originated in China and popular in Western countries. It is the national fruit of Japan. However, only four species are cultivated viz., Diospyros kaki L., Diospyros lotus L., Diospyros virginiana L. and Diospyros oleifera Cheng. Persimmon resembles ripened tomatoes, thus it attract the consumers. The ripe fruit is sweet and has admirable flavor.

NUTRITIVE AND CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE

Persimmon fruits contain 79 per cent water, 0.7 per cent pectin, 0.4 per cent each of protein and crude fibre per 100 g. They are also rich in vitamin A (2710 IU) and vitamin C (11 mg of ascorbic acid). There are two types viz., astringent and non- astringent cultivars, astringency is due to water soluble tannins (kaki- tannin) present in the flesh of fruit and the level falls down at maturity stage and in non astringent types it completely disappear at maturity.
Fresh persimmon fruits are used in certain dishes, in jelly, jam and fruit peel/ skin is added to pickles for imparting orange colour. Dried kaki is a traditional dessert in New Year festivals especially in Japan. Tannin is used as a mordant for protecting wood, as an antidote against snake venoms and as a control agent for viral infections in plants.

Bioinformatics is a recently emerged frontier discipline, which helps in analyzing biological data with the help of information technology and statistical software packages. In a broader sense, bioinformatics is the application of computer technology in management of biological information. This interdisciplinary scientific tool having no barriers between different branches of science like biology, biotechnology, mathematics, computer science and information technology, has great influence on advanced bio-science research, particularly dealing with genes, proteins and cell biology.

Bioinformatics is the branch of study that deals with the use of information technology (IT) for managing data of biological science. Bioinformatics drew public attention with the announcement of the draft sequence of human genome by the then US President Bill Clinton along with Craig Venter and Francis Collins in 2000 (Uma and Sathyanathan, 2004).

Bioinformatics is a multidisciplinary approach that combines computational and biological expertise to analyze biological data to advance research and development and it drew public attention with the announcement of the draft sequence of human genome by the then US President, Bill Clinton along with Craig Venter and Francis Collins in 2000. Bioinformatics and life sciences research are gaining attention in the government, industries and academic sectors. India was the first country in the world to establish a biotechnology information system (BTIS) network in 1987 through the Dept. of Biotechnology and created an infrastructure that enables it to harness biotechnology through the application of bioinformatics. Through this branch of science, biological data are acquired, stored and then analyzed. Bioinformatics can be used to store huge bioscience data for their future uses. By exploring computational tools, databases and new strategies for pests and diseases, resistant genes can be identified and plants with desired traits can be engineered to enhance agricultural productivity. Bioinformatics can be utilized in two ways for agriculture, viz., (i) at molecular level for application in breeding strategies and (ii) agri-informatics for land use planning, farmers window, early warning system, impact assessment and environmental applications.

Soil is formed by disintegration and decomposition of rocks, minerals and organic matter, Soil is a habitant for plant growth and serves as a storehouse of water and food nutrients for plants, Soil is not same everywhere and varies morphologically, physically, chemically and mineralogically from one point to another both in horizontal and vertical directions. Development of soil informatics is necessary to classify the soils, to assess the productivity of soils for various crop productions and to use the soil for various purposes such as land capability classification, soil irrigability classification, soil rating and soil mapping.

Morphologically soil may appear red, yellow, black, brown or ashy in colour. Soil may vary from sandy to clayey in texture. Depending upon the nutrient reserve capacity, the soil may be fertile or infertile. On the basis of climate, a soil may be classified as laterite soil. Red earth and red loam soil, podzol soil or desert soil.

Different kinds of soil contain minerals of various types and amounts and so exhibit distinct physio co-chemical properties. Although various methods have been used in the past to classify the soils, the most modern and scientific methods is based on dominants pedogenic processes acting on a place to from a soil. The new method of soil classification has two important characteristics-Firstly soil classification is based on certain diagnostic parameters which could be estimated quantatively, and secondly depending on diagnostic parameters, a scientific method is being followed to classify a soil from higher to lower levels such as order, suborder, great group, subgroup, family and series.

Advancement of both biological sciences and computer technology gave birth today’s one of the hottest area known as bioinformatics. Gradually bioinformatics analysis has become an essential component to the continued improvement and development of any kind of biological research work. It has various applications in medicine, biotechnology, agriculture etc. Some of the applications of bioinformatics related to biological information analysis are as follows [1]
    
·    Information related to bio-molecules can be mapped (e.g.), the sequences can be parsed to find sites where so-called “restriction enzymes” will cut them.
    
·    Sequences can be compared, usually by aligning corresponding segments and looking for matching and mismatching letters in their sequences. Genes or proteins that are sufficiently similar are likely to be related and are therefore said to be “homologous” to each other.
    
·    If a homologous exists then a newly discovered protein may be modeled - that is 3D structure of the gene product can be predicted without doing laboratory experiments.
    
·    Bioinformatics is used to attempt to predict the function of actual gene products.

If the 1990s were the decade of genomics, the first ten years of the new century are set to become the decade of proteomics. For the first time, the technologies of proteomics make it possible to generate quantitative protein expression data on a scale and sensitivity comparable to that achieved at the genetic level. This advance has major implications for our understanding of cellular organisation in health and disease and for pharmaceutical and agricultural biotechnology. Indeed, proteomics is already yielding important findings, across a wide range of applications. Most proteomics research, however, is directed towards the more proximal goal of investigating protein expression and function under specified physiological conditions.

The rapid evolution of proteomics has continued during the past years with a series of innovations in the core technologies of two-dimensional electrophoresis and mass spectrometry, and a diversity of productive research programmes. Well annotated proteomics databases are now emerging in a number of fields to provide a platform for systematic research, with particularly promising progress in clinical applications such as cardiology and oncology. Large-scale quantitative research, comparable in power and sensitivity to that achieved for gene expression, is thus becoming a reality at the protein level.

Gene silencing is the suppression of gene expression through nucleotide sequence-specific interactions that are mediated by RNA. Many manifestations of RNA silencing-RNA interference (RNAi) in animals, quelling in fungi and post-transcriptional gene silencing (PTGS) in plants, appear to be related. RNA silencing is experimentally activated by double-stranded RNA (ds RNA) and is used as a powerful technique for specific inhibition of gene expression in a variety of organisms. In a natural context, ds RNA may be produced from rearranged loci by transcription from converging promoters or by host-or viral-encoded RNA-dependent RNA polymerases (RdRP). A key component of RNA silencing is 21-23 nt RNA known as short interfering RNA (Si RNA). In Drosophila, the siRNA is derived from ds RNA by the action of an RNase-III like enzyme named DICER. The siRNA guides a multi-subunit endnuclease, referred to as the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC) and it specifically degrades RNA that share sequence similarly with the ds RNA.

Biotechnology provides significant opportunities and greater effects in horticulture, where even minor changes such as quality, colour, aroma, flavour, structure, disease-pest resistance and postharvest behaviour bring tremendous achievements commercially. Tissue culture, genetic engineering, molecular breeding, biofertilizers, biopesticides and postharvest biotechnology are important aspects of biotechnology in horticulture such as fruit, vegetable, ornamental, spice, medicinal, aromatic and plantation crops.

Tissue Culture

Tissue culture is the true reality of the plant biotechnology. The annual demand of tissue cultured production constitutes nearly 10 per cent of the total world biotech business, amounting to 15 billion US dollars. The global production of tissue culture industry is expanding @ 15% per annum (Chadha, 2000). In India, more than 130 tissue culture units are presently producing > 300 million plantlets per annum (Choudhury and Tejaswini, 2000).

The success of any crop improvement programme springs mainly from sound and genetically investigations carried out in the fields. However, the moment such biological populations are subjected to field evaluation, some external and non-heritable agencies come into active role. As a result, these agencies or factors mask real differences among the tested populations which stem purely from heritable or genetic factors. Their influence gets confounded with the latter. Consequently authentic data related to genetic differences are not available due to controllable and non-controllable errors. Further, physical data that are assembled in an experiment are often so voluminous and so vast that is perhaps humanly not possible to arrive at meaningful conclusions. Hence, an adequate knowledge of statistical principles and their appropriate use warrant perfection to a point where all possible sources of error can be well accounted for.

The importance of Plant Pathology has been realized over the years owing to number of crop failures in different parts of the world. Plant disease control is indispensable for qualitative production and to compete in global agricultural trade. There is great need of sensitization of our research in various aspects which shall guide the generation to come for managing plant diseases not only for enhancing crop production but also in facilitating trade by conserving the biodiversity and environment.

Research Trend in Plant Pathology

Like in other sciences, there has been a change in the trend of research in Plant Pathology with passage of time. Up to the late 1960s most of the interest in plant pathology was concentrated in crop diseases mostly caused by fungi. Physiology of microorganisms and physiology of parasitism became increasingly popular fields of interest in 1960s.

The focus of world’s trade and economic activities is increasingly being shifted from resource-based economics to knowledge-based economics. This paradigm shift has been triggered due to the implementation of Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) and other related international treaties and policy frameworks. CBD for the first time states that bio-resources are the sovereign property of the countries in which they are found. It further stipulates that access to bio-resources by outside parties can be made only after prior approved consent of the concerned stakeholders and also with mutually agreed terms and conditions for equitable sharing of benefits accrued from the commercialization of biodiversity. To realize such proclaimed rights given in CBD and to fulfill obligations of various other relevant treaties, particularly in the context WTO regulation, it is imperative that the bio-resources-rich nations like India have comprehensive knowledgebase of the biodiversity and associated information systems in accessible form.

Bioinformatics is a discipline that deals with computation of biological information. Bioinformatics is a newly emerging interdisciplinary research area spanning a range of specialties that include biology, biophysics, computer science, mathematics & statistics. It makes use of scientific and technological advances in the area of computer science, information technology and communication technology to solve complex problems in life sciences particularly problem in Biotechnology.

Explosive growth in biological data from large sequencing projects that are producing nucleotide sequences continuously at a faster rate and the content of the nucleotide database is doubling in every 14 months. The latest release of Gene bank (v.102) exceeded one billion base pairs. To cope with this huge volume of data, a new scientific discipline has emerged comprising bioinformatics, biocomputing & computational biology.

The advancements in the field of informatics, biology and allied fields of technology led to the emergence of an inter-disciplinary field known as ‘Bioinformatics’. This field is an expanding and challenging tool for the collection, storage, organization, integration, analysis and simulation of biological data for utilization in biotechnology.

Collection of Data for Bioinformatics

An epoch making revolution in Genomics in recent years in deciphering plant, animal and microbial genome sequences, Proteomics, Statistics, Instrumental techniques, Structural and Computational Biology have given input to fragmented pieces-and-bits of information on biological materials. Each data is a discrete piece of important but defragmented information regarding a molecule (protein, RNA, DNA, sugars or lipids etc) or a reaction or at best a pathway, supposed to be occurring in a living system independently at a given time and space. However, as in a living system each molecule or a process exists in unison with other entities of its kind, these fragmented data are to be stored, organized, and then integrated and analysed to form an integrated part of a whole chain of events – now called a ‘SYSTEM’. Storage and organisation of data Explosion of knowledge in the field of biology and generation of new informations (data) needs well storage, organization and a faster distribution among the scientific workers. The advent of super computers, high speed computing and development of algorithms for data formatting, assists in the storage of data at the site of origin and distributed through the hyperlinks in world wide web (www).

Nanotechnology is a field of applied science focused on the design, synthesis, characterization and application of materials and devices on the nanoscale. It is a sub classification of technology in colloidal science, biology, physics, chemistry and other scientific fields and involves the study of phenomena and manipulation of material at the nanoscale. This is involved in the creation of useful materials, devices, and systems used to manipulate matter at an incredibly small scale; between 1 and 100 nanometers. With nanotechnology, a large set of materials with distinct properties (optical, electrical, or magnetic) can be fabricated. Nanotechnologically improved products rely on a change in the physical properties when the feature sizes are shrunk.

The advances in science and technology are deeply intertwined. Researchers can use the semiconductor manufacturing techniques that underlie miniaturization to build radios and exceptionally small mechanical structures that sense fields and forces in the physical world. These inexpensive, low-power communication devices can be deployed throughout a physical space, providing dense sensing close to physical phenomena, processing and communicating this information, and coordinating actions with other nodes. These multifunction devices are battery operated and are connected wirelessly with sensing, processing and communicating capabilities and are known as the wireless sensors. If we use these sensors with biological issues or Biotechnology, then we can find the new concepts biosensors. If we really implement these concepts in real life we can get rid of many diseases like heart attack, blood sugar level, gene reaction and other changes that happens in our body much before its shows to outside.

Introduction

After the advent of Post Genomic era, Biological data is accumulating at an electrifying pace every day. Storage and analysis of these data serve as a major source for scientific research to understand the phenomena of origin, evolution and existence of various forms of life. The management of these data requires different statistical techniques used for retrieval, storage, analysis and extraction of precise information from small as well as large biological datasets. Application of statistical tools in Bioinformatics especially in fisheries data has been reported (Roy and Martha, 2008).

Biological sequences like the nucleotide and amino acid sequences can be analyzed by means of the sequence alignment. The objective behind this is to obtain knowledge regarding the similarity between the query and the target sequence to decipher the structure, function, homology of the query sequence.

Sequence Alignment

Sequence Alignment is the procedure of comparing two (Pair-wise Alignment) or more (Multiple Sequence Alignment) sequences by searching for a series of individual characters or character patterns that are in the same order in the sequences.

Significance: Discovering functional, structural and evolutionary information in biological sequences.

Motif

1.    A nucleotide/amino acid sequence pattern having biological significance.

2.    Occurs repeatedly, either in same molecule or in many molecules. Found in upstream intergenic region.

3.    Functionally important regions of genome (gene) can be recognized by searching such patterns.

4.    Used for locating binding sites, regulatory signals, to control gene expression.

5.    Identifying potential drug target sites.

Objectives
    
·    Creation and use of large databases of Biological information to augment traditional laboratory based biology.
    
·    Analysis and interpretation of genomic and structural data using computational techniques from Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science.
    
·    Explain the process and mechanism of evolution by comparing the Genomes of different species.
    
·    Development of new methods and technologies for understanding and diagnosis of genetic diseases and design of drugs for their treatment.

ANN is a Mathematical model or Computational model based on biological neural networks. It consists of an interconnected group of artificial neurons and processes information using a connectionist approach to computation. Neural Networks are non-linear statistical data modeling tools. That can be used to model complex relationships between inputs and outputs or to find patterns in data.

Insights into the three-dimensional (3D) structure of a protein are of great assistance when we plan experiments to understand protein function and in assistance of the drug design process.

Homology modeling
    
·    Homology modeling consists of the extrapolation of the structure for a new (target) sequence from the known 3D-structure (X-ray crystallographic or NMR) of related family members (templates).
    
·    Homology modeling is for those targets that have homologous proteins with known structure (>30% identity)
    
·    Homology modeling is for easy targets.
    
·    Homology modeling treats the template in an alignment as a sequence and only sequence homology is used for prediction.
    
·    When the sequence identity between the target and template sequence is low (<25%), homology modeling may not produce a significance result.

The genetic code uses 64 codons to represent the 20 standard amino acids and the translation termination signal. Each codon is recognised by a subset of a cell’s transfer ribonucleotide acid molecules (tRNAs) and with the exception of a few codons that have been reassigned in some lineages (Osawa and Jukes 1989; Osawa et al., 1990) the genetic code is remarkably conserved, although it is still in a state of evolution (Osawa et al.,1992). The genetic code uses 64 codons to represent the 20 standard amino acids and the translation termination signal. Each codon is recognised by a subset of a cell’s transfer ribonucleotide acid molecules (tRNAs) and with the exception of a few codons that have been reassigned in some lineages (Osawa and Jukes 1989; Osawa et al., 1990) the genetic code is remarkably conserved, although it is still in a state of evolution (Osawa et al., 1992).

In recent years, we have witnessed an explosion of biological information and the bioinformatics data arising from the rapid research and unprecedented progress in molecular biology. The novel genomic technologies have revolutionized the drug designing, discovery and development processes in government as well as private pharmaceutical industries through the use of these technologies. Various databases are doubling in size every year and fortunately we have the complete genome sequences of more than 100 organisms. At present, the pharmaceutical industries have clasped genomics as a source of drug targets. They also distinguish that the field of bioinformatics is crucial for validating these potential drug targets and for determining the ones that are most suitable for entering the drug development pipeline. Due to our increased understanding of molecular biology, there has been a change in the way that medicines are being developed. Once upon a time, new synthetic organic molecules were tested in animals or in whole organ preparations. Now this approach has been replaced with a molecular target in which in-vitro screening of compounds against purified, recombinant proteins or genetically modified cell lines is carried out with a high throughput as a consequence of better and ever improving knowledge of the molecular basis of disease.