Flowering and fruiting characteristics of Kokum [<i>Garcinia indica</i> (Thouars) Choisy] germplasm collected for Industrial Use from the Konkan Region of India

Abstract Kokum [ Garcinia indica (Thouars) Choisy] is a multi-purpose tree with culinary, cosmetics and pharmaceutical uses found popular in Konkan region of India. ICAR-NBPGR Regional Station, Thrissur made a systematic exploration and collection missions on kokum over a period from 1987–2004 and collected 31 accessions from various parts of Konkan region to characterize them using morphological characters and also to investigate their flowering and fruiting behaviour. Totally, 85 trees planted in Field Gene Bank in which only 67 trees (23 accessions) survived during field establishment. Among them, 32 (47.8%) were male and remaining 25 identified as female (37.3%) and 10 as co-sexual (14.9%). Fruit bearing ability noticed only in both female and co-sexual trees with huge variation in fruits. Morphological characterization of 33 trees with fruiting (23 accessions) for 35 morphological traits revealed presence of considerable amount of variation among them on basis of CV%. Highest positive correlation observed between fresh seed weight and fresh kernel weight (0.92). Cluster analysis formed four major clusters with Cluster I and II comprising male/bisexual genotypes and Cluster III and IV with female genotypes and it clearly distinguished male/bisexual genotypes from female ones. PCA analysis accounted 65.6% of genetic variation present among accessions by first three most informative PCs. Superior accessions identified for important traits will be more useful in industrial aspects of preparing kokum butter and juice. Further, seasonal difference identified in fruiting and maturity of fruits well-before onset of monsoon may be exploited by kokum industries for drying and processing of fruits.