Prospects and Potential of Custard Apple in Rajasthan

Rajasthan state of India holds promise in availability of germplasm of custard apple belonging to genus Annona in Mewar and Hadoti regions comprising of Udaipur, Chittorgarh, Baran and Jhalawar districts. Custard apple exists in the form of land races. The tribal people harvest them and sale in the local markets. There exists a lot of scope to identify best one amongst wild germplasm available in plenty. Selection may be made against early bearing, synchronous maturity of sexes, poor fruit setting, freeness from mummification, soft and mealy texture, fruit size, shelf life be sides ravages to pests and diseases. Horticultural interventions are the need of hour to really harvest the food and nutritional values of the fruit. There is a great need to preserve existing biodiversity of custard apple in the state with sustainable efforts being needed to enhance production, accelerate research and develop capabilities to make custard apple as profitable farming enterprise amongst fruit growers of the Rajasthan state.