A Contemporary Narration on Presence of Cluster Bearing Trait in Juglans regia L. in Indian Himalayan Region

Persian walnut belongs to genus Juglans of family Juglandaceae and valued for its nutritious kernels. The Persian walnut (Juglans regia L.) bear fruit in panicle of 1 to 3 fruits and occasionally with five fruits per panicle. Previous report showed that cluster bearing is a rare trait in J. regia. A selective survey was conducted with the objective to identify cluster bearing walnut genotypes and an intensive survey was done in four village viz., Dadom Pora, Nowhar, Hanjum, Shum Nag of Budgam district of Jammu & Kashmir (India) during 2015-16. As a result, one cluster bearing genotype of J. regia was identified from Shum Nag village and named as SN-1. This genotype was found with up to 10 fruit per terminal having approximately 40-50 percent frequency of clusters of 10 fruits. However, maximum terminals were observed with 2-10 fruits per cluster. In this genotype, mean nut weight, kernel weight and kernel recovery were recorded 13.11g, 6.16g and 46.24%, respectively.