Durio - A Bibliographic Review MICHAEL J. BROWN Department of Plant Science MacDonald College, McGill University, Quebec, Canada INTERNATIONAL PLANT GENETIC RESOURCES INSTITUTE Office for South Asia, c/o NBPGR, Pusa Campus New Delhi 110 012, India First published 1997 © International Plant Genetic Resources Institute The International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI) is an autonomous international scientific organization operating under the aegis of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). The International status of IPGRI is conferred under an Establishment Agreement which, by January 1997, has been signed by the Governments of Australia, Belgium, Benin, Bolivia, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chile, China, Congo, Costa Rica, Cote d’lvoire, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, Greece, Guinea, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Malaysia, Mauritania, Morocco, Pakistan, Panama, Peru. Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Senegal, Slovak Republic, Sudan, Switzerland, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda and Ukraine. IPGRI’s mandate is to advance the conservation and use of plant genetic resources for the benefit of present and future generations. IPGRI works in partnership with other organizations, undertaking research, training and the provision of scientific and technical advice and information, and has a particularly strong programme link with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Financial support for the research agenda of IPGRI is provided by the Governments of Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, the Philippines, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the USA, and by the Asian Development Bank, CTA, European Union, IDRC, IFAD, Interamerican Development Bank, UNDP and the World Bank. This publication has been funded by the International Plant Genetic ResourcesInstitute. Citation Michael J. Brown. 1997. Durio - A Bibliographic Review (R.K. Arora, V. Ramanatha Rao and A.N. Rao, Editors). IPGRI office for South Asia, New Delhi. ISBN 92-9043-3 18-3 Copies can be had from: IPGRI Office for South Asia c/o NBPGR, Pusa Campus, New Delhi 110012, India IPGRI Regional Office for Asia, the Pacific and Oceania PO Box 236, UPM Post Office 43400 Serdang, Selangor Darul Ehsan Malaysia IPGRI Office for East Asia C/o CAAS, No. 30 Bai Shi Qiao Road, Beijing 100081, Peoples Republic of China Foreword Under the IPGRI Project on ‘Promoting Conservation and Use of Tropical Fruit Species in Asia,’ much information on status of plant genetic resources has been synthesized for major (mango, citrus, rambutan) and minor (jackfruit, litchi, durian) fruits of South, Southeast and East Asia. This information gathering particularly relates to distribution, extent of diversity, status of germplasm collection, characterization, evaluation, documentation, conservation and utilization. Fifteen such reports prepared by national experts for key national programmes/countries holding rich diversity in these tropical fruits have been brought out by the IPGRI-APO; six on mango (Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and China), three on citrus (India, China, Japan), two each on rambutan and durian (Thailand and Malaysia), one on jackfruit (Bangladesh), one on litchi (China). Dissemination of this well synthesized information by IPGRI will promote further the conservation and use of these crop genepools. Among the native tropical underutilized fruits of promising potential, durian assumes great importance particularly in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. Global interest in this fruit is catching up fast and its commercial prospects increasing. With promising clones now available and considering the export potential of durian, more area under its cultivation has led to loss of primitive diversity and wild/semi-wild/domesticated species. Further, research and development efforts are still required to understand durian flora1 biology and physiology of fruit set, and assessing wild and domesticated primitive genepools for their usefulness in diseases/pest resistance, physiological stress and other attributes imparting better characteristics. Specific treatises dealing with studies on taxonomy, genetic diversity, flora1 biology, breeding, improvement, conservation and utilization aspects are wanting. In the above context, the detailed synthesis provided on durian by Dr. Michael J. Brown is welcomed. It is perhaps for the first time that such a comprehensive account has been attempted on an underutilized fruit crop genepool. This publication on Durian which is a review of bibliography of about 1000 references, provides a well-synthesized information on different aspects of Durio. It deals with its origin, history, taxonomy of wild and cultivated species, identification, morphology of flower and fruit and other organs, its edibility, composition and uses, nutritional aspects, medicinal and iii toxicological prospects, seed physiology, pollination biology, ecology, forest resources, crop improvement efforts, agronomic requirements, propagation, cultivation and maintenance, post harvest technology, genetic resource and conservation. IPGRI-APO has put in tremendous efforts to bring out this monograph suitably edited by Drs. R.K. Arora, Ramanatha Rao and A.N. Rao, and published by IPGRI Office for South Asia, Pusa Campus, New Delhi. IPGRI is happy to be able to publish this work by Dr. Michael J. Brown, as it greatly enriches knowledge on the durio genepools. Also, IPGRI supports the dissemination of such information on underutilized fruits, their R&D needs and above all promoting their conservation and use. I am confident that this publication will generate further interest in this crop, and will be useful to researchers and concerned institutes to strengthen their research and development needs on durian. Dr. Kenneth W. Riley Regional Director IPGRI Regional Office for Asia, the Pacific and Oceania Serdang, Malaysia iv Preface My desire to write this book grew out of an innate and deeply rooted concern to understand the durian. In the late 1980s, a vigorous search of scientific abstracts led me to believe that a bibliography on the subject would only fill 1 or 2 type-written pages; the idea that a bibliographic review resulting in a book would be necessary to fully examine the subject was unthinkable. Today, I would estimate that approximately 1200 research articles, book chapters, conference abstracts etc. have been produced which pertain to durian. At the current rate of increase, this figure will very likely double over the next 20 years. Thus, we stand at a crossroad. If our future researches are really to advance our knowledge forward, we need to come to terms with what we already know. Despite the preponderance of information that exists on durian, numerous obstacles are present for those who wish to study them. Much of the literature presented in the bibliography of this book has never been abstracted. This, and many of the items that are abstracted, have been exceedingly difficult (and sometimes prohibitively expensive) to obtain. Thus, in many areas, a researcher cannot be reasonably expected to have discovered and read much of the pertinent background information. In numerous instances, this has led to the repetition of experiments and has stood in the way of an appropriate focus around which further research projects could be built up. Currently, no comprehensive bibliography on durian literature exists for the researcher, which is difficult to comprehend given the economic importance of this fruit to several nations. The goal of this work is two-fold. Firstly, it is intended to remedy the information management problems just described. Secondly, it is hoped that, by means of a review, those issues which are most in need of further study will be brought to light. The diversity of research conducted has raised several very interesting lines of enquiry; while the obscurity and fragmentary nature of many studies has led to the premature acceptance of hypotheses. The research conducted on some of the world’s major crops (rice, wheat, maize, etc.) compared with that on durians is like a mountain to a mole-hill. The number of fields of scientific enquiry that have been touched upon by this mole-hill is rather staggering, and leaves me to wonder what marvels we could unearth had we the whole mountain. V In this work, great pains have been taken to give full credit to all the authors. Much time and effort have been devoted to obtaining original research articles to confirm statements and ideas presented in more general reviews. In cases where original results were published using the Imperial system of measurements, a metric equivalent is presented parenthetically. Where research on species, that are no longer taxonomically recognized, is discussed, parenthetic notes are given to help clarify their identity. I can in no way take full credit for the massive amount of effort that went into compiling the bibliography. I wish to extend thanks to the numerous libraries and institutions without whose aid in supplying original works and/ or photocopies, this book would not have been possible:University of Guelph Library, Canada; Universiti Pertanian Malaysia Library; National Library of Malaysia; Malaysian National Agricultural Library; Management Information Systems Division, MARDI, Malaysia; University of Los Banbs Library, Philippines;