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Phalsa (Grewia subinaequalis syn. G asiatica) is a minor fruit crop. It is the most hardy fruit, drought resistant and requires little care. This fruit crop is mentioned in vedic literature having medicinal properties. It can be grown almost in all parts of north India except at higher elevations. It cannot be grown in temperate climates with severe winters.  Phalsa being very vigorous in growth can be an ideal plant for plugging gullies and ravines and for contours to protect bunds. It can also be grown as a hedge along the field boundary. It is also grown as filler tree(Chundawat,1990).  It is capable of growing under marginal, waste lands and water scarcity conditions. The tiny fruits have to be picked from bush several times during the fruiting season. Fruits are used for fresh eaten and having short shelf life is suitable for disposal in local market.

Wood apple (Feronia limonia (L.) Swingle) is also called kainth, elephant apple, monkey fruit, curd fruit, kath bel and other dialectal names in India. It is drought hardy, medium to tall sized, under utilized fruit tree. In Malaya, it is gelinggi or belinggi, in Thailand, Ma-khwit, in Cambodia, Kromsang and in Laos, Ma-fit. In French, it is pomm-d-elephant, pomm de bois, or citron des mois (Morton and Miami, 1987). It is one of the most highly valued fruit plant grown in drier region of the country. Its plants are deciduous, glabrous, tree with thorny branches. Limited work has been done on its post harvest utilization.

The wood apple is native to India and common in the wild form in dry plains of India and Sri Lanka. It is also found growing throughout South East Asia, in Northern Malaya and on Penang Island. In India, the fruit was traditionally a “Poor man’s food” until processing techniques were developed in the mid-1950’s. It occurs, wild or cultivated, up to an elevation of 1500 ft, in Western Himalayas, but more common in the Deccan; Thane and Chandrapur districts of Maharashtra. It is also reported to occur in parts of Hazaribagh, Palamau and Chota Nagpur in Jharkhand, in forest of Vidhyan hills of Uttar Pradesh and Chattishgarh. It is often cultivated on borders of fields and as a roadside tree near villages and sometimes planted in the orchards. It is grown in the states of Odisha, Karnataka, M.P., A. P.  and Tamil Nadu.

Tamarind (Tamarindus indica L.) is an important tree for social forestry, agro-forestry, wasteland development and dry land horticulture. The tree assumes great significance due to its various uses and capacity to withstand adverse agro-climatic conditions. The pulp of the mature ripe fruit has considerable export value in many parts of the world. The fruits are used for making processed products.

It is a common tree throughout the warmer parts of India, except where frost occures i.e. sub-Himalayan tracts and North-West Punjab. Rough estimates indicate that about 80,000 metric tonnes of tamarind pulp per annum is produced in India, bulk of which comes from the states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and to a limited extent from Bihar. India is perhaps the main producer and consumer of this fruit in the world. In Maharashtra, the area under tamarind crop is around 13,186 hectare.

Custard apple (Annona squamosa L.), also known as sitaphal, sharifa, sugar apple  is a  nutritious, edible fruit of  family Annonaceae. It is a drought hardy, deciduous fruit tree and most suitable for dry land horticulture. Annonaceous fruits originated in tropical America and are widely distributed in tropics and sub tropics. Among Annona fruits, custard apple is the most favourite in our country. Its plants come up unattended in parts of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu. Due to hardy nature and escape from animal’s damage, this plant species is grown in different tropical and sub-tropical regions of the country. Of late, custard apple has gained commercial significance and exclusive orchards are emerging in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan. A wide range of genetic diversity is available in Anonaceous fruits in many parts of country. It is naturally grown in Aravali belt especially in Udaipur, Sirohi district of Rajasthan and its potential should be exploited for improvement (Chundawat, 1990). The plant of this species is shrub or small size tree and very important in both horticulture and in ethno-botanical use. However, the maximum area of its cultivation is in Maharashtra and Karnataka  state. The area are being expanded because of its  prospects in semi arid and  dry parts of the country.

Manila tamarind (Pithecellobium dulce  (Roxb.) Benth.), also known as ‘Jangle jalebi’, ‘Madras thorn’, Sweet inga and ‘Monkey pod’ has a potential to become an important tree of semi- arid and arid regions since it is a drought hardy plant and tolerates harsh environmental conditions as well as salinity. In general, it is planted on the boundary of orchard, road and field sides as protective hedge plant. It is a medium size, much branched tree, suitable for silvi-pastoral system (Gupta et al., 1994). It is drought resistant species but susceptible to frost under arid conditions, coming up well in areas of low rainfall due to its extensive root system. Names like dulce (sweet) and “Manila tamarind” reflect the wide use of the pods as food. The most valuable and commonly used part of Manila tamarind tree is the pulp, which is white or red, very sweet and has a pleasant flavour. The large aril represents 50 per cent of the fruit (Seeds 25%, husk 25%). The major constraint in commercialization of this tree species is lack of improved genotypes, agro-techniques for cultivation in different ago-climatic conditions and limited commercial value.

Fig (Ficus carica  Linn.)  also called ‘Anjeer’ is a nutritive and delicious fruit. Its tree is native to western Asia. It is rich in calories (269), protein, and calcium (higher than milk), iron and fibre content. The small deciduous plants of fig are grown in different parts of the country. Fig has been cultivated since ancient period (4000 BC.) and well known through out the world. It is originated in Middle East and naturalized in many parts of the world. Fig tree plantations cover 426,244 ha. area in the world with an overall yield 1070676million tones. The largest fig growing countries are Turkey, Egypt, Iran, Greece and Algeria (Pasqual and Ferreira, 2007). It is also grown in some parts of Australia, California, New- Zealand and Argentina.

Karonda (Carissa carandas L.) is found growing throughout India, mainly in the semi-arid  and arid regions. It is widely cultivated in the home gardens, farmer’s fields and orchards as hedge plant. Karonda is commonly used as a condiment or additive to Indian pickles and spices. Karonda is one of the few fruits indigenous to India while 30 species of genus Carissa have been reported; many species are found growing wildly in India while other species came from Malaysia and South Africa (Hayes, 1957). It is cultivated throughout India in tropical and sub-tropical areas for fruits (Rai and Gupta, 1996). In India Carissa are found growing most widely in plains and  Siwalik hills and grow wild in Deccan Peninsula, Maharashtra along the western ghats, parts of Gujarat, Punjab, lower ranges of J & K, U.P., Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh M.P. and Aravalli hills, Mount Abu (Rajasthan). It also cultivated in other countries like Bangladesh, South Africa, U.S.A., Denmark, Ghana, Israel, Nepal and Pakistan.  It is also grows in the Sri Lanka lowland rain forests. It can be grown in any type of soil however; it is most suitable for planting in marginal lands (Sharma and Badiyala, 2002). It is a very hardy, drought-tolerant plant that thrives well in a wide range of soils. However, it is susceptible to very low temperature/frost under hot arid conditions (Singh et al., 2012).

Bael (Aegle marmelos Correa.) also known as Shri Phal, Baelpatra, Bengal quince, Beel, Bel is a nutritious and medicinal fruit plant, which is most suitable for water scarce areas of the country. It is indigenous tree to India and known since ancient time. Bael fruit is mentioned in ancient literature viz., Vedas, Ramayana, Upavan Vinod,  Brihat Samhita (Singh and Roy, 1984). Methods of ripening of the bael fruit are also given in Buddhist and Jain literature 800 BC – 325 BC.  During the Ramayana period, it has been mentioned that bael trees were found growing in the Chitrakut hills and Panchvati. The bael is grown throughout the country and main bael growing states are Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha and Rajasthan. It is found growing in neighboring countries like Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand and most of the Southeast Asian countries. Besides systematic orchard, bael can also be grown in parks, temple gardens, roadsides etc. The bael plant is sacred to the Hindus and is of common occurrence in temples of ‘Lord Shiva’ because of its mythological significance.

Indian gooseberry or aonla (Emblica officinalis Gaertn.), is an important fruit crop of 21st century and it has been regarded as ‘Amritphal’ in ancient literature, and has been identified as an ideal plant for various kinds of wastelands viz, moisture stress, eroded, ravines, upland, riverbed and the areas with undulated topography (Korwar et al., 2006) as it possesses some specific characters like intensive and deeper root system, summer dormancy of zygote, reduced leaf area, synchronization of fruit growth and development with moisture availability period and selective absorption of cations and anions which enable it to grow in fragile agro-climatic conditions. India is principal aonla growing country and Uttar Pradesh is the leading state and Pratap garh district, U.P. is well known for aonla cultivation throughout the country. Aonla is a deciduous tree, small to medium in size and distributed in tropical and sub-tropical forests in India. Looking to its high demand and value added products, now, it is being commercially cultivated in different parts of country. It can tolerate alkalinity and salinity and can be grown in wide range of soils.

Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) known as Khajoor, Kharek is an important fruit tree of semi-arid and arid regions of the world. It grows well under poor desertic soils due to its hardy plant characteristics and deep root system.  It is also one of the most suitable fruit plant, which can be easily grown under saline irrigation conditions. It is well known fact for date palm that its feet in the water and its head in sun. It requires dry hot climate for growth and development of fruits. In arid region, crop production is risky preposition, where date palm cultivation contributes in achieving food security, high nutritive value food, crop diversification, desertification control, income generation and foreign exchange earnings. It can be grown at such areas where adequate irrigation facilities are available besides other climatic requirements (Chandra et al., 1992; Sharma and Singh, 2013).

Pomegranate  (Punica granatum L.)  also  known as anar, dalim  is   an ancient  fruit and cultivated in semi-arid to arid regions of the country. However, pomegranate plants are found throughout the country from temperate to tropical climate. It has enjoyed a reputation for its healthy dietetic and medicinal properties. Pomegranate has versatile adaptability, drought tolerance, high value fruits, steady and high yields of the crop (Vishalnath et al., 2007). The pomegranate fruit has therapeutic value (Julie Jurenka, 2008); good keeping quality, high export potential and is mainly grown for table purpose, though several value added products are also available.

Ber (Ziziphus mauritiana Lamk. ) is one of the ancient and common fruits of the country. It is a drought hardy fruit tree and can grow successfully even under harsh climatic conditions. Ber is well known for its ability to thrive under adverse conditions of salinity, drought and poor marginal soils. However, for good tree’s growth and yield, deep sandy loam soils with neutral or slightly alkaline reaction and good drainage are most suitable. It is grown throughout the country especially in arid and semi- arid parts. However, it is mainly grown in western parts of Rajasthan where rainfall is less and erratic (Pareek et al, 2002). In addition to Rajasthan state, it is cultivated in other states like U.P., Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, A.P., Gujarat, M.P., Chhatisgarh, Haryana, Punjab and Bihar.

Besides edapho-climatic constraints in the arid region, availability of genuine planting materials at the doorsteps of the farmer’s is one of the major challenges that come in the way of horticultural development at commercial venture. Though, establishment of nursery is considered as remunerative farming enterprise if managed properly, in arid region it is still confined in the vicinity of big cities. It is also interesting to reveal that in the state like Rajasthan, most of the private nursery men are not producing planting materials in their nurseries except for the fruits like ber, lasoda and  kinnow instead they are purchasing planting materials from the other states in bulk and selling them on higher rate to the farmers of the state. The main reasons for poor development of nursery in the arid region are; unfavorable edapho-climatic conditions and poor knowledge about innovations made in recent past for nursery management. Keeping these facts in view, there is a need to develop a long chain of hitech-nurseries coupled with Human Resource Development for mass multiplication of quality planting materials for fulfilling the demand of end users. Production of quality planting material is directly link with productivity of fruit crops (Bose et al., 1998; Brison and Adriance, 2000).

The classical idea of the existence of a hormone as a chemical  messenger was first reported by Darwin and Darwin (1880). However, Boysen-Jensen (1911) was first who actually demonstrated their prescence by a grafting experiment. Evidence  exist to show that early mankinds often  used these phytohormones  for rooting of cuttings, flower  induction, control of flower drop etc. The  modern age of phyto-hormones began in 1926 when  F.W.Went isolated  an active substance from oat coleoptile  tip which later on proved as IAA (Indole Acetic Acid) or auxin. A dramatic revolution in this field started after the discovery that a chemical  different in structure to IAA could exhibit auxin like activity such as rooting of cuttings (Zimmermann and Wilcoxon,1935) and by 1940,the use of synthetic auxins was well established with the progress in this field, the first generation phytohormones have been replaced with superior product and new crops are being added to take the advantages of its beneficial effects.

Many horticultural and forestry plants don’t come true-to-type when propagated by seed owing to cross pollination and highly heterogeneous nature of fruit crops, in general. As a result, when such plants are grown, the individuals differ in morphological as well as fruit characteristics as compared to mother plant. Though, it was a common practice in old days to establish new orchards with seedling plants, but now with the development and standardization of different vegetative propagation techniques, such plantings are avoided. In modern system of crop production, instead of a single tree derived from seed, use of composite plants (consist of usually scion and rootstock, joined together by budding or grating) is in vogue. This could have been possible by growing interest of mankind in vegetative means of plant propagation.  In asexual propagation, vegetative parts of the plant are used for propagation.  It is practicable because all the living cells of a plant have a capacity to regenerate into a full plant under favourable environmental conditions.

Micropropagation refers to the production of plants from very small plant parts, tissues or cells, grown aseptically in a test tube or containers under controlled nutritional, environmental and aseptic conditions. It is also called as in vitro propagation, which implies clonal, true-to-type propagation of plants by a variety of tissue and cell culture methods and is considered as the most efficient and commercial method of plant propagation. Tissue culture or in vitro culture is two broadly used terms for micropropagation, which basically include aseptic culture of various plant parts. Micropropagation was developed as the result of accidental findings of French Professor G. Morel in 1958, when he was attempting to obtain virus-free plants through meristem culture in dahlia and orchids. All the biological principles of micropropagation technique are based on the phenomenon of totipotency of cell, in which a cell of a plant has the capacity to regenerate in to a full-fledged plant having different organs. German plant physiologist, Haberlandt (1902) is known as the father of tissue culture technique, who for the first time coined the term totipotency.

In global competitive agriculture market, the need of the hour is to provide uniform and quality agricultural produce which can compete in market and give remunerative returns. For this, the agriculture production needs to be addressed on more scientific grounds and full package of practices are to be adopted to produce quality produce for global market. Earlier, the orchards were established using seedling material where uniformity of the produce was not guaranteed. Thus, in recent years more emphasis is being paid on scientific establishment of orchards which requires true to type planting material from which uniform produce is expected. This true to type planting material can only be produced by vegetative methods. Thus, standardization of vegetative propagation in horticultural crops, particularly in perennial crops has gained much importance. Some references are available on propagation of plants which shows that vegetative propagation  methods were also practiced in ancient time as mentioned in old treaties literature viz. Upvan vinod,  Ain-e-akbari, etc.

Plant propagation is the science of generating new plants. Basically, in plant kingdom, the plants multiply themselves either asexually or by sexual means. In asexual propagation methods, plants use any of the vegetative part of the plant to produce offspring such as stem, root, buds, etc. The plants thus produced are having exactly the same genetic blueprint as that of the parent plant. However, in the sexual method of propagation, the specialized parts of the plants which have undergone meiosis takes parts such as pollen and ovule to produce seed which on germination produces the plants having characters encoded on its genome. Such plants may have a blend of characters of both the parents. The seed production is a complex phenomenon which takes place after fertilization (Bhatnagar and Johri, 1972).

Even since, the man adopted plant cultivation; he attempted various methods of propagation. In ancient time, the only source of plant multiplication was by seeds. Hence, techniques for higher seed germination, improved seed vigour were developed by giving pre-treatment. However, as the knowledge advanced and demands for having true to type plants was realized to man shifted his cultivation practices for some plants from seed to vegetative propagation such as cutting, layering and grafting. The use of cuttings, corm, bulbs, tubers  for multiplication were known to ancient peoples as mentioned in old literature. This method also gave an edge to conserve the genetic gain once developed in a cultivar, since all vegetatively multiplied plants will have some genome and will produce true to type plants. Thus, the development of vegetative propagation method because it is easy method to multiply plants on large scale and develop uniform quality produce.

Abstract

This paper sets out to describe key results and experiences obtained during the assessment of the crop response to water which varies strongly from crop to crop depending on its specific genetic characteristics and adaptation to ecological conditions. The specific crop water information for the different crops is compiled in a crop-based data base. This includes crop water parameters, yield response to water, as well as selection of economy crops. Existing natural water resources can sustain the crop production with high yield as well as economic value with minimal environment impact. Most of the crop varieties get all of its required water from rainfall- water but due to climate change there is always a demand of irrigation water from the ground water resources. Thus, there is a need to evaluate the crop water information in relation to ground water extraction as a source of irrigation.