Horticulture: Instructional-Cum-Practical Manual: Fundamentals of Fruit Production (Volume IV)

Abstract

Fruits are rightly considered as men’s oldest food. The techniques of fruit culture and its utilization also received the attention of man at a very early stage. In India too, cultivation of fruits dates back to ancient times. Fruits are natural sources of Vitamins and minerals. While most fruits are used as protective food, some of them supplement as well as substitute the cereal and other foods in the daily diet. The area under fruits in India is 2.9 million hectares with an estimated annual production of 10.2 million tonnes. The requirements of the present population, on the basis of minimum daily delivery requirement of 30 g fruit for an adult works out to 14.5 million tonnes. To meet the requirement of growing population, the production of fruits has to be stepped up to 21 million tonnes by the turn of the century. India with its varied soil and climatic conditions provides almost unlimited potential for increasing fruit production.