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INTRODUCTION

The Jamun, botanically identified as Syzygium cumini (L.) Skeels

(Syns. Syzygium jambolana DC, Eugenia cumini Druce, Eugenia

jambolana Lam.), belongs to the family Myrtaceae or Myrtle (Chase,

2009; Wealth of India, 2002). The other names of jamun are Indian

blackberry, Java plum, Jambu, black plum and Jambul etc. (Kirtikar and

Basu, 1999; Nadkarni, 2001). In the production of jamun, India ranks

second in the world. Uttar Pradesh state is the largest producer followed

by Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Assam. S. cumini is an emerging

fruit crop of the twenty-first century as it yields table fruit that could play

an important role in meeting demand for nutritious natural fruit of high

medicinal value as well as different plants parts possess varied uses to

mankind. It comes in the category of minor or underutilized fruit crop.

Ripe fruits are purpulish with high anthocyanin content with a pleasant,

astringent taste and are processed to make vinegar, jam, jellies and

squash

It accredited due to the presence of the various pharmacological

active phytochemicals such as alkaloids, fatty acids, steroids and tannins.

It is multipurpose tree cultivating for varied uses as avenue tree for wind

break. Due to its high tannin content bark yields a brown dye which is

used in preserving fishing nets and tanning leather. The timber is used as

fuel wood and preparation of different agricultural implements.

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1.1 Religious Veneration

Due to a majority of Jamun trees the Indian subcontinent known as

Jambudweep, Jambul regarded as 'fruit of the gods', by many Hindus

especially in Gujarat. In southern Asia, the tree is adored by Buddhists, and

it is considered sacred to Krishna. The leaves and fruits are devoted as

elephant-headed god, Ganesha or Vinayaka (Morton, 1987; Warrier et al.,

1996).

1.2 Taxonomy

The genus name Syzygium is derived from the Greek word Syzygos,

meaning yoked together, possibly referring to the paired leaves. S. cumini

(2n = 40) is a medium to large sized evergreen tree with smooth grey bark

and attain the height of 20 m. The taxonomy of the S. cumini is as follows-

Kingdom : Plantae – Plants

Subkingdom : Tracheobionta – Vascular plants

Super division : Spermatophyta – Seed plants

Division : Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants

Class : Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons

Subclass : Rosidae

Order : Myrtales

Family : Myrtaceae – Myrtle family

Genus : Syzygium P. Br. ex Gaertn.

Complete scientific name: Syzygium cumini (L.) Skeels

(Source: USDA-NRCS, 2011)

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1.3 Origin and distribution

S. cumini is an important indigenous, very common, large, evergreen

beautiful tree, native to India but has naturalized throughout Myanmar, Sri

lanka, East Africa, South East Asia, Eastern Australia etc. (USDA-ARS,

2008).

Figure 1.1: Worldwide distribution Syzygium species

Source - Orwa et al. (2012), http://www.worldagroforestry.org/af/treedb

Native Range: India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand.

Exotic Range: Algeria, Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados,Colombia, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ghana, Grenada,Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Indonesia, Jamaica,Kenya, Martinique, Mexico, Montserrat, Nepal, Netherlands Antilles,Nicaragua, Panama, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Trinidad, Tobago,Uganda, US, Vietnam, Virgin Islands (US), Zambia and Zimbabwe.

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The trees of jamun are mostly found in Western Ghats and scattered

throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of Indian subcontinent

(Singh and Bajpai, 2011). It has naturalized throughout the Nepal, Pakistan,

Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Philippines, Indonesia, Eastern Africa, Florida and

Hawaii (Warrier et al., 1998; USDA-ARS, 2008). It is one of the hardy

fruit crops and can be grown in waste and marshy areas where other fruits

plants cannot be easily grown. The tree is naturalized in Philippines Java

and East Indies, Queensland, New South Wales, Zanzibar, Pemba and

Mombasa and the adjacent coast of Kenya. By 1870, it became established

in Hawaii and in 1920 and 1940 Puerto Rico and Israel, respectively. It is

grown in Algiers, Bermuda, Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica, the French Islands,

Trinidad, Lancetilla, Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, Surinam, Venezuela

and Brazil (Bhandary et al., 1995).

1.4 Species distribution

The genus Syzygium comprises about 1000 species, the most of them

are tropical in origin. Jamun is found in Western Ghats and very

extensively in the tropical region (Singh and Bajpai, 2011). Syzygium

cumini (L.) Skeels is the most common and widely distributed and other

species as Syzygium alternifolium (Wight) Walp., Syzygium

aqueum (Burman. f.) Alston, Syzygium aromaticum (L.) Merrill & Perry.,

Syzygium Bracteatum (Willd.) Raizada, Syzygium malaccense (L.) Merrill

& Perry., Syzygium samarangense (Blume.) Merrill & Perry., Syzygium

jambos (L.) Alston., Syzygium fruitecosum (Roxb.) DC., Syzygium

javanica Lam., Syzygium densiflorum Wall ex. Wight & Arn., Syzygium

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uniflora (L.) and Syzygium zeylanicum (L.) DC., found scattared in

tropical and subtropical regions of the country (Singh et al., 2011).

Figure 1.2: Distribution of Syzygium species in India (Singh et al., 2011)

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1.5 Pharmacological potential of different parts of S. cumini

The S. cumini occupy considerable place in our life that have

efficacy to ameliorate the detrimental effects of many diseases. Its

reference had been quoted in Rigveda and Atharva Veda. Since the time of

Charaka and Susruta, it is also used extensively in the several traditional

systems of medicine resembling in the Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha,

Homeopathy, alternative and complementary medicine (Warrier et al.,

1996). Before the discovery of insulin, in the treatment of diabetes S.

cumini was used either alone or in combination with other hypoglycemic

plants even in Europe (Helmstadter, 2008). Its bark is acrid and good for

sore throat, bronchitis, asthma, biliousness, dysentery, blood impurities and

to cure ulcers (Kirtikar and Basu, 1999). Its decoction is used as lotion for

removing ringworm of the head (Warrier et al., 1996). It has significant

decrease in blood glucose levels in mice (Villasenor and Lamadrid, 2006).

Unsaponifiable matter of seed fat contains β-sitoterol. antidiabetic, anti-

inflammatory, hepatoprotective, anti-hyperlipidemic, diuretic and

antibacterial activities have been reported in various extracts of Syzygium

cumini seeds by Duke (2006).

The powder, decoction, juice or pastes of the different parts of jamun

tree were utilized for cure of various diseases (Ayyanar and Babu, 2012).

The juice is taken mixed with milk every morning. Fresh leaf juice is taken

orally for stomach pain (Bhandary et al., 1999). The ash of the leaves is

used as a dentrificant and is effective at strengthening the teeth and the

gums. In the Siddha system of medicine, S. cumini is considered to be a

haematinic, semen promoting and to decrease excessive heat of the body

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(Warrier et al., 1996). According to the Unani system of medicine, they are

supposed to be a liver tonic, to enrich blood, strengthen teeth and gums.

The leaves were used as for strengthen the teeth and gums, fever,

gastropathy, dermopathy and constipation.

Several experimental and clinical studies have been confirmed

antidiabetic activities of various parts of jamun (Grover et al., 2002; Ravi et

al., 2004; Sridhar et al., 2005; Sahana et al., 2010; Dusane and Joshi, 2011;

Ponnusamy et al., 2011). The various extracts of different parts of jmaun

possess a range of pharmacological properties such as antibacterial (Gowri

and Vasantha, 2010), antimicrobial (Oliveira et al., 2007; Siddiqi et al.,

2011), antifungal (Chandrasekaran and Venkatesalu, 2004; Jabeen and

Javaid, 2010), antiviral (Sood et al., 2012), antioxidant and free radical

scavenging activity (Benherlal and Arumughan, 2007; Zhang and Lin,

2009; Banerjee and Narendhirakannan, 2011), cardioprotective (Mastan et

al., 2009), anti-inflammatory (Kumar et al., 2008), neuropsycho-

pharmacological (Kumar et al., 2007), antiallergic (Brito et al., 2007),

radioprotective (Jagetia et al., 2008), chemopreventive (Parmar et al.,

2010), larvicidal (Raghavendra et al., 2011), gastroprotective and anti-

ulcerogenic (Chaturvedi et al., 2009) activities.

1.6 Genetic resources and extent of genetic variability

In India, due to the diversity in climate, soil, altitudes and other eco-

geographical conditions, rich genetic resource of genus Syzygium are

available. In India, the variability was recorded in small farms/ orchards, in

backyards, roadside avenues and marginal lands across the country, which

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has predominantly arisen from seedling origin. Owing to cross-pollination

and seed propagation, there is enormous variability in fruit morphology,

quality, maturity and productivity. The large number of seedling strains

have variation with respect of fruit shape, size, pulp colour, TSS, acidity

and maturity period particularly in Goa (Devi et al., 2002), Uttar Pradesh

and Jharkhand (Patel et al., 2005; Srivastava et al., 2010), Gujarat (Singh

and Singh, 2012), Karnataka and Maharashtra (Ghojage et al., 2011). There

are no standard cultivars available in S. cumini, however, several farmers

have been identified selection of jamun which is area-specific. These types

of selections are made on the basis of fruit size, shape, taste, fruiting period

and maturity of fruits. One natural selection is known as Ra jamun, grown

widely is famous in northern India (Pathak et al., 2006). Its fruits are big

sized length 2-3.50 cm and diameter 1.5-2.0 cm, oblong deep purple, highly

juicy and sweet fruits. A seedling selection has considerable tree variation

exists in the Pune and Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra named as Paras

yields sweet fruit (Keskar et al., 1989).

There are some local selections/ varieties from Haryana and Western

Uttar Pradesh i.e. Badama (large size and very juicy fruits), Kaatha (with

small and acidic fruits), Jathi and Ashada (matured in June), Bhado

(matured in August). Some recently released varieties of jamun are Goma

Priyanka from CHES, Godhra Gujarat (semi-dwarf, spreading growth

habit, dense foliage and drooping branches, early, precocious bearer),

Rajendra Jamun 1 from Bhagalpur, Bihar (lanceolate leaf, acute apex,

comparatively early flowering profusely, Dark black fruit, oval in shape

with blunt apex and smooth skin surface). The Central Institute for Sub-

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tropical Horticulture, Lucknow, UP were also released two selections of

jamun namely CISH-J-37 (fruit is bold, oblong, small seed with higher

pulp content, high TSS, lowest acidity, mid season maturity, high

nutraceutical value due to relatively high ascorbic acid content and total

antioxidant value) and CISH-J-42 (seedless, round shape fruit, high pulp

content, enhanced shelf-life with High TSS and ascorbic acid content).

1.7 Objectives

Keeping this in view, the present study entitled “Studies on genetic

variability in jamun (Syzygium cumini Skeels) related with

morphological, biochemical and medicinal attributes” was carried out

with following objectives

1. To assess morphological and biochemical variation in fruits of

different accessions of Jamun (Syzygium cumini Skeels).

2. To identify superior accessions for maximum antioxidant

value and to assess genetic variability in elite accessions of

jamun using morphological and molecular marker.

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1.8 Prospects of study

Jamun (Syzygium cumini L.) Skeels is an important under-exploited

fruit crop, widely grown successfully due to its wider adaptability and

nutraceutical properties. In India, its variability occurs largely roadside

avenues and marginal lands across the country, which has predominantly

arisen from seedling origin. Jamun has importance for providing delicately

flavoured attractive natural edible fruits that possess high medicinal values

as various parts of plant including seeds, bark, leaves and fruits have been

studied and investigated for various pharmacological properties. It is well

known fact that germplasm are the building blocks of new varieties

however, some of the valuable varieties are eroding fast under varying

environmental pressures.

Therefore, the evaluation of physico-biochemical, total antioxidant

and nutraceutical properties along with assessment of genetic variability

would be an important approach for exploiting jamun genotypes at

commercial scale by increasing area under its cultivation. The seeds have

efficacy in amelioration of diabetic conditions as it is used as integral parts

of various antidiabetic products in different alternative systems of medicine

thus will provide additional income to the growers. There are various jamun

based herbal products, manufactured in India and other Asian countries are

well known among consumers. The commercial exploitation of S. cumini

would be attributed to higher GDP of the nation by increasing the income

of growers besides providing better health to the society.

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1.9 References

Ayyanar, M. and Subash-Babu, P. (2012). Syzygium cumini (L.) Skeels:A review of its phytochemical constituents and traditional uses. AsianPac. J. Trop. Biomed., 2(3): 240-246.

Banerjee, J. and Narendhirakannan, R.T. (2011). Phytochemicalanalysis, antibacterial, in-vitro antioxidant and cytotoxic activities ofethanolic extract of Syzygium cumini (L.) seed extract. Int. J. Pharma. Sci.Res., 2: 1799-1806.

Benherlal, P.S. and Arumughan, C. (2007). Chemical composition and in-vitro antioxidant studies on Syzygium cumini fruit. J. Sci. Food Agric., 87:2560-2569.

Bhandary, M.J., Chandrashekar, K.R. and Kaveriappa, K.M. (1999).Medical ethnobotany of the siddis of Uttara Kannada district, Karnataka,India. J. Ethnopharmacol., 47: 149−158.

Brito, F.A., Lima, L.A., Ramos, M.F., Nakamura, M.J., Cavalher-Machado, S.C., Siani, A.C., Henriques, M.G.M.O. and Sampaio, A.L.F.(2007). Pharmacological study of anti-allergic activity of Syzygiumcumini (L.) Skeels. Braz. J. Medic. Biol. Res., 40: 105-115.

Chandrasekaran, M. and Venkatesalu, V. (2004). Antibacterial and anti-fungal activity of Syzygium jambolana seeds. J. Ethnopharmacol., 91:105-108.

Chase, M.W. and Reveal, J.L. (2009). A phylogenetic classification ofland plants to accompany APG III. Botanical J. Linnean Society, 161:122-127.

Chaturvedi, A., Bhawani, G., Agarwal, P.K., Goel, S., Singh, A. andGoel, R.K. (2009). Ulcer healing properties of ethanolic extract ofEugenia jambolana seed in diabetic rats: Study on gastric mucosaldefensive factors. Indian J. Physiol. and Pharmacol., 53:16-24.

Devi, S.P., Thangam, M., Desai, A.R. and Adsule, P.G. (2002). Studieson variability in physico-chemical characters of different jamun(Syzygium cuminii Skeels) accessions from Goa. Indian J. Hort., 59 (2):153-156.

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Duke J.A. (2006). Handbook of Medicinal Herbs, 2ed Ed. CRC Press,Londan, pp 422.

Dusane, M.B. and Joshi, B.N. (2011). Seeds of Syzygium cumini Skeelpotential for islet regeneration in experimental diabetes. J. Chinese Integ.Med., 9:1380-1387.

Ghojage, A.H., Swamy, G.S.K., Kanamadi, V.C., Jagdeesh, R.C., Kumar,P., Patil, C.P and Reddy, B.S. (2011). Studies on Variability among BestSelected Genotypes of Jamun (Syzygium cumini Skeels.). Actahorticulturae, 890: 255.

Gowri, S.S. and Vasantha, K. (2010). Phytochemical screening andantibacterial activity of Syzygium cumini (L.) (Myrtaceae) leavesextracts. Int. J. Pharm. Tech. Res., 2(2): 1569-1573.

Grover, J. K., Rathi, S.S. and Vats, V. (2002). Amelioration ofexperimental diabetic neuropathy and gastropathy in rats following oraladministration of plant (Eugenia jambolana, Mucuna pruriens andTinospora cordifolia) extracts. Indian J. Exp. Biol., 40: 273-276.

Helmstadter A (2008). Syzygium cumini (L.) Skeels (Myrtaceae) againstdiabetes- 125 years of research. Die Pharmazie., 63: 91-101.

Jabeen, K. and Javaid, A. (2010). Antifungal activity of Syzygium cuminiagainst Ascochyta rabiei -The cause of chickpea blight. Nat. Prod. Res.,24: 1158-1167.

Jagetia, G.C., Shetty, P.C. and Vidyasagar, M.S. (2008). Treatment ofmice with leaf extract of jamun (Syzygium cumini linn. Skeels) protectsagainst the radiation-induced damage in the intestinal mucosa of miceexposed to different doses of - radiation. Pharmacologyonline, 1: 169-195.

Keskar, B.G., Karale, A.R., Dhawale, B.C. and Chaudhary, K.G. (1989)Improvement of Jamun (Syzygium cuminii Skeels) by selection.Maharastra J. Hort., 4:117-20.

Kritikar, K.R. and Basu, B.D. (1999). Indian Medicinal Plants,International Book Distributors, Booksellers and Publishers, Dehra Dun.

Kumar, A., Ilavarasan, R., Jayachandran, T., Deecaraman, M., Kumar,R.M., Aravindan, P., Padmanabhan, N. and Krishan, M.R.V. (2008). Anti-

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inflammatory activity of Syzygium cumini seed. Afr. J. Biotechnol., 7:941-943.

Kumar. A., Padmanabhan, N. and Krishnan, M.R.V. (2007). Centralnervous system activity of Syzygium cumini seed. Pak.. J. Nutr., 6: 698-700.

Mastan, S.K., Chaitanya, G., Bhavya, L.T., Srikanth, A., Sumalatha, G.and Eswar K.K. (2009). Cardioprotective effect of methanolic extract ofSyzygium cumini seeds on isoproterenol-induced myocardial infarctionin rats. Der. Pharmacia. Letter, 1: 143-149.

Morton, J. (1987). Jambolan, Syzygium cumini Skeels. Fruits of WarmClimates. Miami, USA, Purdue University, pp 375-378.http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/ morton/jambolan.html

Nadkarni, K.M. (2001). Indian plants and drugs with their medicinalproperties and uses. Asiatic publishing House, New Delhi.

Oliveira, G.F.D, Furtado, N.A.J.C., Da-Silva-Filho, A.A., Martins,C.H.G., Bastos, J.K. and Cunha, W.R. (2007). Antimicrobial activity ofSyzygium cumini (Myrtaceae) leaves extract. Braz. J. Microb., 38: 381-384.

Orwa, C., Mutua, A., Kindt, R., Jamnadass, R. and Simons, A. (2012).Agroforestree database: a tree reference and selection guide version 4.0.2009. Url: http://www. worldagroforestry.org/af/treedb.

Parmar, J., Sharma, P., Verma, P. and Goyal, P.K. (2010).Chemopreventive action of Syzygium cumini on DMBA- induced skinpapillomagenesis in mice. Asian Pac. J. Cancer Prevent., 11: 261-265.

Patel, V.B., Pandey, S.N., Singh, S.K. and Das, B. (2005), Variability injamun (Syzygium cumini Skeels) accessions from Uttar Pradesh andJharkhand. Indian J. Hort., 62(2): 244-247.

Pathak, P. K., Mitra, S. K. and Chakraborty, I. (2006). UnderutilizedTropical and Subtropical Fruits of Asia. In XXVII InternationalHorticultural Congress-IHC2006: International Symposium onCultivation and Utilization of Asian, 770: 67-76.

Ponnusamy, S., Ravindran, R., Zinjarde, S., Bhargava, S. and Kumar, A.(2011). Evaluation of traditional Indian antidiabetic medicinal plants for

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human pancreatic amylase inhibitory effect in-vitro, Evid. BasedComplement. Alternat. Med., 1-10.

Raghavendra, B.S., Prathiba, K.P. and Vijiyan, V.A. (2011). Larvicidalefficacy of Eugenia jambolana Linn extracts in three mosquito species inMysore. J. Entamol., 8: 491-496.

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Sahana, D.A., Shivaprakash, G., Baliga, R., Adhikari, P.M.R., Jyothi, G.and Pai, M. R.S.M. (2010). Effect of Eugenia jambolanaon plasmaglucose, insulin sensitivity and HDLC levels: Preliminary results of arandomized clinical trial. J. Pharm. Res., 3: 1268-1270.

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