To conserve the vanishing varieties of jackfruit, Dr. Shivaram Karanth Pilikula Nisargadhama has planted 31 cultivars (varieties) in its Botanical Garden here.
All of them are elite grafted cultivars procured from well-known grafter Gururaja Balthillaya of Perdoor in Udupi district. They are high yielding in nature, differ in colour and have good sweet taste, Principal Scientist at the nisargadhama H. Soorya Prakash Shenoy told The Hindu .
Showing a variety planted near the Guttu Mane which has started yielding now, medicinal plant supervisor at the nisargadhama Udaya Kumar Shetty said that the bulbs of the particular variety have dark yellow colour and are very sweet.
Mr. Shetty said that of 155 saplings of the 31 varieties planted in the garden, 40 saplings did not survive.
Mr. Balthillaya said that the varieties given to Pilikula comprised those grown in high rainfall areas of Malnad and coastal belt and some grown in the dry belt or Bayaluseeme. Of late, it has been realised that the varieties from the dry belt do not grow in the coastal belt. Even if some trees from the dry belt variety survive, they did not give fruits. Hence, some saplings from the dry belt planted at Pilikula have died.
Some of the varieties planted included All Season Mangaluru, Prashanti, Ananya, Mankale Red, Chandra Bakke, Talvani, Ramachandra and Toobgere.
The grafter said that among the varieties planted at Pilikula some are early yielding which bear fruit after three years of planting and a few are late yielding ones that take time, up to 10 years, to give yields after planting. The All Season Mangaluru began yielding in three years after planting.
The grafter said that Mankale Red variety is from Sagar in Shivamooga and Talvani is from the high rainfall belt of Sringeri.
The dry belt varieties Shankara and Siddu are not suitable for cultivation in the high rain fall areas.
Mr. Balthillaya said that jackfruit orchards are spreading in the dry belts of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu now. There is demand for the grafted saplings from those belts.
Mr. Shenoy said that there is a need to have a directory of jackfruit growers, with the area and varieties listed. The directory should also specify which variety is suitable for making different value added products. There is no data base now, he added.
