Jackfruit : Botany, Production and Uses (eBook)

Sisir Mitra worked at the Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur, West Bengal, India from 1980 until 2014. He served as Head, Department of Fruits and Orchard Management (1996-2000), Dean, Faculty of Horticulture (2007-2009) and Dean, Post Graduate Studies (2009-2012). Dr Mitra did his post doctoral research (1985-1986) at the Horticulture Research International, East Malling, UK as Commonwealth Fellow and worked as visiting Professor at the Institute Coltivazoni Arboree, Italy (1990), and University of Lavras, Brazil (2016). Hi has published 252 scientific papers, 74 popular articles, 11 books, 1 IBPGR Descriptors and 28 technical reports. He has developed one coconut variety (Kalpa Mitra), two mango (Himsagar-HT 10 and Langra-LT 64 ) and three Jackfruit ( Jt-1, JT 39 and JT 40) clones. Dr Mitra is presently serving as Board Member responsible for publications of ISHS, Science Editor, ISHS and Editor-in-Chief, Fruits: The International Journal of Tropical and Subtropical Horticulture. He is also the Chairman, Editorial Advisory Board of Acta Horticulturae and Chronica Horticulturae. He also serves as Chairman, Working Group on Avocado, and Jackfruit and other Moraceae. Previously he was Chairman,Tropical and Subtropical Fruits.

Jackfruit: Botany, Production and Uses comprises 13 chapters dedicated to exploring the life and times of jackfruit, the fruit-bearing evergreen tree. One of the best features of Jackfruit is the "Processing and Products" chapter, which explores how the whole tree is processed and what kind of food and industrial products it yields. When it is green and unripe, jackfruit can be cooked and eaten as a vegetable, and when it is ripe, jackfruit is eaten as a fruit.

Overall, Jackfruit: Botany, Production and Uses is an excellent compendium of this hardy multipurpose perennial tree. Crop scientists, horticulturalists, farmers, botanists, plant physiologists, and cooks will find Jackfruit an accessible starting point for precursory research. As climate change gives rise to prolonged periods of droughts and severe flooding, jackfruit will be a formidable crop because it can resist drought and thrive with little maintenance. The jack of all fruit-bearing evergreen trees, jackfruit will soon be coming to a grocery store near you.

This informative text on Jackfruit, Artocarpus heterophyllus, a fruit well known in the tropics but still relatively unknown in western temperate climates, is an excellent addition to the CABI library on tropical fruit.

Despite extensive research and variety development in India, jackfruit selection outside of the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand is relatively untapped. As a fresh fruit, variety abounds in aril colour from light yellow to deep orange/red, flavour, texture (soft and firm) and fruit size. Immature green fruits are used as a vegetable throughout India and South-East Asia. Additional information on different cultivation and management practices of jackfruit, in different parts of the world, would have been informative given the fact that the crop is commercially produced across a diverse range of environments and climatic conditions.

Congratulations to Professor Mitra and the contributing authors for an informative tome. Readers, both experienced with and those new to the fruit will gain considerable knowledge from the material presented in the book as well as the extensive references provided by the chapter authors. Given the increasing popularity of jackfruit in the temperate western word where it is favoured by vegetarians and vegans as a meat substitute, its consumption and hence commercial production is likely to increase.