XIII World Forestry Congress Buenos Aires, Argentina, 18 – 23 October 2009

An insight into the natural and artificial regeneration of few

important wild edible fruit species: a case study from
Central Western Ghats, India.

Prashanth, K.1 , Prakash, N. A.2

In the recent past, forest resources throughout the world are experiencing uncontrolled exploitation and
depletion, especially wild edible and other multipurpose tree species. It is very important to maintain
their adequate population status of such over exploited tree species, which otherwise may become extinct
in the near future. In this context the present study was an attempt to throw light on the regeneration
status of few wild edible tree species in the forested landscapes of Kodagu, Central Western Ghats: one of
the 34 mega centers of hotspots of biodiversity in the worl d. In the present study, three species were
chosen for the regeneration studies viz., Carisa inermis, Mimusops elengi, and Chrysophyllum
roxberghii. The findings of the study indicates that, the regeneration of all the species showed very poor
regeneration, which could be attributed to the commercial extraction of these fruits. The nursery
propagation studies indicate that, in Carissa inermis, the seeds treated with cow urine and cow dung
slurry showed better seed germination and speed of germination. In Chrysophyllum roxberghii, seeds
treated with 1.0 N and 0.5 N sulphuric acid showed better germination compared control and other
treatments. In case of Mimusops elengi seed germination and speed of germination were better in seeds
treated with cold water compared to control. It was found that, collection of fruits may not be the sole
reason of poor regeneration of these species, it could also be due to the germination constraints. In this
context, the present study provides an insight into the pre sowing treatments required for different species
for producing better nursery stocks, which in turn can be reintroduced for their conservation in the
natural habitats.

Introduction
The past decade has noticed an unprecedented loss of biodiversity all over the world especially in the
tropical countries. The tropical forests of the world cover 7 per cent of the earth’s land surface which
comprises more than 50 per cent of all the known species in the world. Assuming the current rate of
deforestation, it is estimated that by 2010, the tropical forests of the world would have lost about 33 to 50
per cent of the species (Gadgil, 2001).
The fruits are nature’s gift to mankind. These are not only delicious and refreshing, but are also the chief
source of vitamins, minerals and proteins. These constituents are essential for normal physiological well
being and help in maintaining healthy state through development of resistance against pathogens (Bal,
1997). The wild edible fruits are the normal food of cattle grazers and the forest tribes. Hence, conserving
these species has a great value in developing countries.
Among the several mult ipurpose wild edible fruit yielding tree species, Carissa inermis, Chrysophyllum
rouxburghii and Mimusops elengi are gaining prime importance during the recent past in the study area.
The regeneration of wild edible fruit species is poor in natural habitats mainly due to in tense biotic
pressure. There was a lack of sufficient mature seeds of these species in the wild, since the fruits of these
species have been collected by the local people and were also sold in the local market. If the exp loitation
trend continues at the same rate, the natural regeneration of these species will decline leading to the severe
reduction of their population in the near future and ultimately leading to their extinction. Therefore, there is

1
Post graduate student, College of Forestry, Ponnampet, Kodagu.
2
Dean (Forestry), College of Forestry (UAS, B), Ponnampet, Kodagu. Email: nandinap54@rediffmail.com

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XIII World Forestry Congress Buenos Aires, Argentina, 18 – 23 October 2009

an urgent need to assess the natural regeneration and also develop suitable propagation techniques for mass
multip lication of these species.

Material and methods

The study was undertaken in the Kodagu district situated at an latitude of 120 29’ N and longitude of 750 56’
E with an elevation of 867 m above mean sea level. The regeneration of three wild edible fruit tree species
viz., Carissa inermis, Chrysophyllum roxburgii and Mimusops elengi were studied in the natural forests of
the district and the nursery experiments were conducted at College of Forestry , Ponnampet, Kodagu. To
assess the natural regeneration of these selected species, a total of 10 circular plots of 7 meter radius
(keeping the mother tree as centre point) were laid in the natural forests and all the regenerates were grouped
into the following regeneration classes.
Class I – less than 40 cm height
Class II – 40 cm to 100 cm height
Class III - more than 100 cm height and less than 5 cm GBH.
For germination studies, seeds were treated with cold water (48 hrs), Hot water (800 C for 5 min), Cow
urine treatment (4 days), Acid treatment (0.5 N and 1.0 N sulphuric acid for 5 min). Fro m the data obtained
on germination of seeds , germination percentage, speed of germination, and germination value were
computed.

Results and discussion

The knowledge of age structure of a population serves as an indication of the future population. In the
present study, the regeneration status of Cariss inermis was found to be decreasing towards higher
regeneration classes and similar kind of pattern were noticed for Mimusops elengi. While, the population of
Chrysophyllum roxburgii was found to be very scanty in all regeneration classes indicating very poor
regeneration. Similar kind of regeneration patterns were reported for Ougeinia dalbergioides in the forests of
Uttara Kannada (Hareesh, 2000). The lower density of new recruits per sample plot could be due to failure
of individuals to establish successfully because of disturbances of successional changes.
In case of nursery experiments, germination value and speed of germination of Carissa inermis was
significantly higher in case of seeds treated with Cow urine compared to other treatments. This reveals that,
treatment of seeds with cow urine can enhance seed germination and which could be due to the presence of
certain growth promoting substances present in the cow urine. Enhanced seed germination in cow urine
treated seeds was also observed by Shankaranarayana et al. (1994) for Tamarindus indica.
Treatment of seeds with cow dung slurry enhanced germination percentage when compared to other
treatments. It could be due to the presence of certain substances in cow dung slurry which might have
softened the hard seed coat. Similar results were obtained by Rai et al., (1996) in Pterocarpus santalinus,
Tamarindus indica and Terminalia tomentosa.
In Chrysophyllum roxburgii the germination per cent was considerably higher in the seeds treated with 1.0
N and 0.5 N sulphuric acid compared to control and other treatments. The sulphuric acid seems to soften the
seed coat or could degrade the seed coat, thus permitting easy penetration and uniform inflow of water and
gases causing unrestricted expansion of the embryo which might also have facilitated quick and easy
imbibitions of water resulting in better germination. The results of the present study are on par with the
germination studies of Caesalpinia sappan (Channegowda et al., 2001).
Relatively higher germination per cent was obtained in cold water treated seeds compared to all other
treatments in case of Mimusops elengi. This could be attributed to the fact that, soaking in cold water helps
to soften the seed coat and removal of inhibitory substances present in the seeds resulting in early
germination (Hart man and Kester, 1976) The speed of germination and germination value was also
maximu m in cold water treated seeds, which is on par with the results obtained by Gopikumar et al. (1993)
in Terminalia tomentosa and Terminalia paniculata.
In a nutshell, the present study highlights the natural regeneration status of these three selected wild edible
fruit species, which serves as a baseline information for undertaking suitable conservation strategies. In
addition to the natural population in the wild, the pre treatments used for seeds for augmenting the seed
germination and speed of germination would help in obtaining good nursery stock for further planting
programs as an ex situ method of conservation of these wild edible fruit yielding species.

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XIII World Forestry Congress Buenos Aires, Argentina, 18 – 23 October 2009

References
Bal, J.S., 1997. Fru it growing, Kalyani Publishers, Hyderbad. pp 3-4.
Channegowda. S., Farooqi, A.A., Srinivasappa, K.N. and Vasundhara, M., 2001. Studie on pre -
germination treat ments in natural dye yield ing tree (Caesalpini sappan L.) Indian Journal o f Forestry
24(3): 320-323.
Gadgil, M., 2001. Karnataka state Biodiversity and Action plan. Centre for Eco logical Studies, Indian
Institute of Science, Bangalore. pp. 2-3.
Gop iku mar, K., Nazema, K.K. and Abdul Salman, A. 1993. Germination studies in selected tropical tree
species. Journal of Tropical Forestry. 9(2): 110-115.
Hareesh, T.S., 2000. Phenology, regeneration and propagation studies in Ougeinia dalbergioides Benth.
M.Sc. thesis submitted to the University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad.
Hart man, H.R. and Kester, D.F., 1976. Plant propagation principals and practice,. Prentice Hall of India,
New Delhi, pp. 35-60.
Rai S.N., Nagaveni, H.C. and Pad manabha, H.S. 1996. Ger mination in fruits. Advances in Horticu lture,
2(2): 607-625.
Shankaranarayana, R., Vijay ku mar, M. and Rangaswamy, P., 1994. Co w dung for ideal germination in
Tamarind. Indian Horticulture 38: 4-15.

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XIII World Forestry Congress Buenos Aires, Argentina, 18 – 23 October 2009

Tables

Table 1: Natural regeneration status of Carissa inermis, Chrysophyllum roxburghii and Mimusops elengi (
Values indicate number of individuals per plot)

Sl No Species Class I Class II Class III CD (0.05) SEm (±)

1 Carissa inermis, 21 10 02 0.51 0.18
2 Chrysophyllum 01 01 01 NS 0.12
roxburghii
3 Mimusops elengi 05 03 00 0.72 0.26

Table 2: Effect of pre- germination treatments on different germination parameters in

Carissa inermis

Sl. No. Treatments Germination Speed of Germ ination

(%) germ ination Value
1
2
3 Control 05.55 (13.63) 1.86 1.57 (0.41)
4 Cold Water 08.01 (16.44) 2.13 2.38 (0.53)
5 Hot w ater 00.00 (00.00) 0.00 0.00 (0.00)
6 Cow urine 22.87 (28.57) 3.08 5.16 (0.79)
7 Cow dung Slurry 18.08 (25.16) 2.78 6.59 (0.88)
Sulphuric acid (0.5 N) 02.17 (8.48) 1.58 0.41 (0.15)
Sulphuric acid (1.0 N) 01.62 (7.32) 1.33 0.62 (0.21)

CD (0.05) 1.01 0.56 0.62

Table 4.3: Effect of pre- germination treatments on different germination parameters in

Chrysophyllum roxburghii

Sl. No. Treatments Germination Speed of

Germ ination
(%) germ ination Value
1
2 Control 24.69 (29.80) 3.11 4.67 (0.67)
3 Cold Water 25.00 (30.00) 3.04 4.36 (0.64)
4 Hot w ater 00.48 (4.00) 0.62 1.20 (0.08)
5 Cow urine 20.70 (27.10) 2.97 3.54
6 (0.55)
7 Cow dung Slurry 23.50 (29.00) 2.99 3.46 (0.54)
Sulphuric acid (0.5 N) 31.91 (34.40) 3.02 5.01 (0.70)
Sulphuric acid (1.0 N) 41.65 (40.20) 3.35 8.51 (0.93)

CD (0.05) 3.52 1.60 2.18

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 XIII World Forestry Congress Buenos Aires, Argentina, 18 – 23 October 2009

Table 4.4: Effect of pre- germination treatments on different germination parameters in

Mimusops elengi

Sl. No. Treatments Germination Speed of Germ ination

(%) germ ination Value
1 Control 10.76 (19.20) 2.50 1.86 (0.27)
2 Cold Water 21.60 (27.70) 3.20 2.95 (0.47)
3 Hot w ater 0.92 (5.50) 0.87 1.05 (0.02)
4 Cow urine 6.70 (15.00) 2.27 1.02 (0.01)
5 Cow dung Slurry 11.92 (20.20) 2.74 2.34 (0.37)
6 Sulphuric acid (0.5 N) 17.07 (24.40) 2.90 3.31 (0.52)
7 Sulphuric acid (1.0 N) 17.99 (25.10) 3.14 2.88 (046)

CD (0.05) 2.01 1.65 NS