PRESENT STATUS AND PROBLEMS OF PECAN NUT (CARYA ILLINOINENSIS (WANG.) K. KOCH) CULTIVATION IN JAMMU AND KASHMIR

Pecan nut is the one of the most important temperate nuts grown in India. In India, it is mainly grown in Jammu and Kashmir, and Himachal Pradesh. The total area under pecan nut production is increasing due its high economic returns and adaptation to intermediate zone of Jammu. Most plantations are of seedling origin in scattered form and produce nuts of variable quality. Over the years, breeders have exploited the variation among these seedling trees to select superior genotypes with desirable traits. Improved cultivars were introduced from other countries and after evaluation, some recommendations have been made. On the whole, pecan nut has remained a low priority crop in otherwise apple dominated regions. Pecan nut cultivation suffers from lack of suitable methods of propagation, inadequate vegetatively propagated plants, lack of standard rootstocks and cultivars, problems of re-establishment of nursery plants in the orchard, pollination behavior, and lack of suitable pollinizers, long juvenile period and lack of appropriate harvesting techniques. The progress made in recent years to overcome the above cultivation problems with a view to revive the pecan nut industry and export potential is discussed.