Minor and uncultivated fruits of Eastern India Anupam Paul Assistant Director of Agriculture Government of West Bengal Biodiversity Conservation Farm: Agricultural Training Centre Fulia: Nadia:WB: India:PIN- 741402 [email protected] Paper published in the Full Paper Proceedings of the 2nd International Symposium on Minor Fruits and Medicinal Plants for better lives, 20th Dec, 2013, F/Agriculture, University of Ruhuna, Mapalana, Srilanka, pp 54-67 Abstract: Rapid urbanization process has alienated man from nature. Many wild and minor edible fruit plants are on the verge of extinction; these were supplementary fruit in addition to our elite table fruits like mango (Mangifera indica L), grapes(Vitis vinifera L) litchi(Litchi chinensis), apple (Malus domestica) etc. These fruit have tremendous health benefits and these were in use in Ayurvedic medicine. The wild edible fruits loaded with nutrients play an important role in maintaining livelihood security for many people in developing countries and it constitute significant portion of daily diet of the people of Sub-Himalayan, Himalayan and Lateritic zones of West Bengal, Jharkhand and Odisha. More emphasis is to be given on this less unexplored fruits in relation to conservation andutilization so that the tribal people can get their due share as they have been conserving them for centuries. Food processing and supply of raw material for preparation of Ayurvedic medicine would be the major thrust for popularizing these fruit crops in the Decade of Biodiversity Conservation 2011-2020. Key words: Wild and minor fruits, domesticated, cultivated, nutritive value,sacred groves Introduction: Since time immemorial, edible wild fruits have played a very vital role in supplementing the diet of the people of Indian Sub-continent. Apart from customary use as food, wild edible fruits have various health advantages as it potentially give immunity to many diseases. Accordingly, Ayurveda, the Indian Folk medicine was developed from wild fruits and plants. Major fruit crops like Mango, Litchi, Guava etc. are commercially cultivated while the wild edible fruits refer to species that are neither cultivated nor domesticated, but it come from their wild natural habitat and used as one of the sources of food (Beluhan and Ranogajec 2010).There are another category of crops called minor fruit crops that have been domesticated but not cultivated in commercial scale like Aegel marmelos, Dilleniasp, Cassiac aranda,Feronia limoneaetc. Some tribal people still depend on forest for different kind of food ranging from cereals to fruits. Some fruit crops are considered minor in some places while the same fruit crops are in commercial cultivation in some other regions; here the words minor and major are relative terms. The fruits like Ananas comosus Merr, Anacardium occidentale L, Anonas quamosa, Artocarpus heterophyllus, Punica granatum etc. are in cultivation in some states of India but those are also found in the wild.In addition to the role in closing food gaps during periods of drought or scarcity, wild edible fruits play an important role in maintaining livelihood and nutritional security for many people in developing countries (Afolayan and Jimoh, 2009).It has been revealed that wild fruits provide vitamins, minerals, fiber, antioxidants and compounds of nutritional, gastronomic and social importance such as alkaloids, essential oils and phenolics etc. Many workers suggested that wild edible plants play a very important role in the livelihoods of rural communities as an 1 integral part of the subsistence strategy of people in many developing countries. East Indian states like West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, Assam, Tripura and other North eastern states have many wild uncultivated and minor fruits. The wild uncultivated fruits constitute significant portion of daily diet among the people of Sub Himalayan, Himalayan and Lateritic zones of West Bengal, Jharkhand and Odisha.There are several common fruits in eastern India. Table: 1 Number of wild fruit sp States/regions No of Authors Table I states number of wild fruits Fruits found in the North Eastern states of Assam 29 Shadeque (1989) India. Among the states, Meghalaya Eastern Ghat 1532 Reddy et al (2006) has the highest number of wild region fruits. One study in the state Meghalaya 125 Jasmine et al (2007) revealed that indigenous fruits contribute a portion of family diet Odisha 51 Sinha &Lakra with an average annual consumption (2005) of 73 kg per household. Sale of wild Sikkim 27 Sundriyal and fruits contributed 15 % of income Sundriyal 2011 for tribal households. However; Tripura 86 Mazumder &Dutta there are some common fruits in (2009) those red lateritic zones like Jharkhand 13 Kala (2009) Madhuca indica and Diospyros melanoxylon. Since traditional knowledge onwild edible fruits is on the wane, the research on wild edible fruits is crucial to safeguarding the traditional knowledge for future societies (Mazumder, 2004, Feyssa et al 2011, Jadhav et al 2011, Lulekal 2011).Erosion of traditional knowledge of wild crop plants and disappearance crop sps is synonymous to rapid modernization what is termed as GDP based development. Documentation, conservation and revalorizing indigenous knowledge on wild edible and minor fruits is urgently needed to promote nutritional health of the local inhabitants and urban people. It helps in restoring genetic and cultural diversity. People are to be made aware of the loss of crop diversity due to anthropogenic activities. Materials and Method: After visiting some of the states, primary information of minor and wild fruit was collected from different relevant literature, books, internet and secondary information pertaining to usage was taken from local people of West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand, Tripura and Assam.Basic information on the wild and minor fruit was collected giving less emphasis on different lime and lemon varieties. Popular Indian name (Hindi) of fruit crops has been used. One particular fruit crop may have several species and varieties but one particular widely available species has been considered. In order to accommodate vast array of information, a small representative list of wild and minor fruits has been prepared.Table III describes basic information on minor and wild fruits. 2 Results and Discussion: 1. The Vanishing Wealth: The western mono culture mode of food production, known as Green Revolution in 1960s ushered a new era in the field of agriculture. It has not only pushed to extinction about 90% thousands of indigenous Indian rice varieties but alsohas led to expunge the mixed cropping, crop rotation and diverse crop cultivation(Deb, 2005). Farmers become accustomed to grow single fruit varieties like cereal crops for their convenience of interculture. Crops are grown on the basis of market demand not on the basis of traditional culture and agro-ecological condition.Conventional research aims at basically on fertilizer and pesticide management not on nutritive qualities, conservation and characterization of wild and minor crops.The traditional knowledge and wisdom of local people on agriculture are now pushed into oblivion through disuse (Paul 2002).Owing to rapid urbanization, the children of the nuclear families living in cities are denied of uncultivated but domestic minor fruits and wild fruits as they have no access to such fruits. School text books do not mention these minor fruits as the western mode of education do not recognize them worth reading. Various authors have mentioned that the wealth of traditional knowledge pertaining to these plants has also disappeared (Cleaveland et al., 1994). Some fruits like Flacortia indica, Lantana camera, Inga dulcis, Buchanania lanzan, Morus nigraetc. were particularly eaten by the village children. But these are being lost from the villages due to rapid urbanization and felling of trees.Several mango and jackfruit varieties have already been vanished from the world. Several elite fruit crop varieties along with wild and minor fruits are under threat of extinction. The North Eastern states of India where so called western method of agriculture has not yet reached fully and rapid urbanization is not so rampant may boast of protecting the vast treasure of wild edible crops. 2.Nutritive Quality of Wild and Minor Fruits: Analysis ofnutritive qualities of wild and minor fruits has gained momentum. Nutritive quality may vary from species to species and it is also depended on soil and prevailing environmental condition. The table 2 shows the major nutritive value of some selected fruit crops. It reveals that minor and wild fruits are no less than so called elite commercial fruits like mango, apple and banana. Loquat contains substantial amount of beta carotene, potassium, calcium and phosphorus as compared to elite fruits like apple, mango etc.But the nutritional qualities are not projected towards the consumers. Moreover, these minor and wild fruit crops do not require special care and fertilization.Generally urban elite people consider them inferior fruit as those are eaten by poor people living in jungles. Any wildedible crop canbe elevated to the status of an elite international crop through state sponsored propaganda. For example, the Kiwi fruit was not known to New Zealand and other parts of the world until 1904 when a director of a New Zealand school (Ms Mary Isabel Fraser) visited China and took the vines of Chinese goose berry(Actinidia chinensis), a wild fruit of Yangtze Valley of China and planted it in her garden in New Zealand. It was named after the flightless Kiwi bird of New Zealand.Eventually, the fruit became so popular that commercial growers became interested.There were several research works on the nutritional aspect and health benefit of the fruit. Massive campaign in favour of the fruit went on through the media and people become attracted to this fruit. Thereby cultivation of the fruit has started in other 3 parts of the world and in India as well. Such exploration of wild and minor fruits is to be encouraged in the Indian Sub-continent as it is abound with several nutritious fruit crops.