Bioinventory and documentation of traditional ecological knowledge of wild edible fruits of Kodagu-Western Ghats, India

Forty-five species of wild edible fruits were identified and traditional local knowledge of their usage was recorded in 40 villages of Kodagu district in Central Western Ghats, India one of the eight top hotspots of biodiversity in the world. We combined biodiversity inven-tory of trees with village interviews to record traditional ecological knowledge. Wild edible fruits were an opportunistic source of food for rural people. Wild edible fruits were rich in minerals, vitamins, carbohy-drates, proteins, fats and fiber. In recent years there has been a decline in numbers of wild fruit trees due to changes in land use from uncultivated private wooded area to cardamom and coffee cultivation. The availability of wild edible fruits that were once very common on private cultivated areas has declined and their distributions are now restricted more to jungles and wildlife sanctuaries. We propose methods for conservation and describe the need for sustainable utilization to provide supplemen-tary sources of nutritional and pharmaceutically useful edible wild fruits.

采后处理对“Robusta”香蕉货架寿命及品质的影响

目前印度正在不断扩大种植“Robusta”香蕉。这就要求有比较可行的办法延长该品种的货架寿命以适应内外贸易的需要。本研究包括以下三个方面:(i)保鲜剂Waxol和Tal prolong延迟后熟的效果;(ii)聚乙烯袋包装的保鲜效果;(iii)对未处理果应用乙烯吸收剂。