Contents: Preface. I. General: 1. Interesting, delicious, neglected, underutilized and under-researched fruits and products of the mulbery family/Sudha G. Valavi, K.V. Peter and George Thottappilly. 2. Origin, distribution and biodiversity of jackfruit/Rema Menon and K.V. Peter. 3. Ethnobotany and genetics of species of artocarpus/Rema Menon. 4. Reproductive biology/D.K.N.G. Pushpakumara. 5. Genetic resources and crop improvement/Nazmul Haq. 6. Molecular markers for germplasm characterization and breeding efforts in jackfruit/S. Geethanjali, P. Kadirvel and G. Thottappilly. 7. Farmer participatory breeding and selection/Pablito M. Magdalita. 8. Varieties and yield/N. Kumar and M. Kavin. 9. Sexual, vegetative and in vitro propagation/Raj Mohan, Vellayani. 10. Climate, soil and agronomy/J.K. Hore. 11. Jack based cropping systems/S. Parthiban, A. Subbiah, S. Saraswathy and M. Selvarajan. 12. Jack and agroforestry/T.K. Kunhamu. 13. Major insect pests of jack/Syed Nurul Alam. 14. Diseases of jackfruit and their management/Naomi G. Tangonan. 15. Composition and spectroscopic characterisation of jackseeds/Anurup Gohain Barua. 16. Nutritional and other properties of jackfruit/Indrani Medagoda and Sudha George Valavi. 17. Wellness using jackfruit: pharmacological, medicinal and clinical values/Sudha George Valavi and Lisa Thottappilly. 18. Uses and recipes with jackfruit/Sudha George Valavi, Josephine G. Tangonan, Lisa Thottappilly and Aleyamma Thottappilly. 19. Application of postharvest technology in jack/Sutrisno, Ismi M. Edris and Sugiyono. 20. Jackfruit and food industry in Thailand/Amornrat Mukprasirt. 21. Nutritional significance, recent developments in India on processing and value addition of jackfruit/Mary Ukkuru P. and Shruti Pandey. 22. Industrial applications of jackfruit/D. Venkeppayya and A.R. Angumeenal. 23. Fermentation of jackfruit/C. Balagopalan and Mimi Joy. 24. Morphological study on the vessel elements of wood in Artocarpus heterophyllus/Wei-Ping Tang, Shu-Si Chen and Wei-Jia Chen. 25. Potentials of jackfruit as ruminant feed in developing countries/Kusmartono. 26. Harvesting, grading, marketing and economics of jackfruit production/Sudha George Valavi, B. Jacob, Muhammad Nurul Amin, Pablito M. Magdalita and George Thottappilly. II. Jackfruit cultivation in different countries: status reports: 27. Jackfruit in Sri Lanka/Indrani Medagoda. 28. Jackfruit in South India/Prasanna Kumari Amma and Kesavan Kumaran. 29. Jackfruit in northern and eastern India/Pauline Alila and D. Sanyal. 30. Jackfruit in Indonesia/Yuniarti. 31. Jackfruit in the Philippines/Leon O. Namuco. 32. Jackfruit in Malaysia/Abd Rahman Milan. 33. Jackfruit in Vietnam/Nguyen Quoc Hung. 34. Jackfruit in Mauritius/D. Abeeluck, S. Benimadhu and N. Ramburn. 35. Developing a project proposal to fund jackfruit research and development/V. Balasubramanian, D.V.R. Reddy, Sudha George Valavi and George Thottappilly. 36. Future prospects and research needs for jackfruit/Sudha George Valavi, K.V. Peter and George Thottappilly. Subject index.

The world today depends mainly on three crops, viz. rice, wheat and maize to meet more than 50% of dietary energy. Many crops such as jackfruit have the potential to grow well in poor, marginal soils with low inputs and can withstand severe climate or soil stresses. These crops have not received the deserved attention in research and development, production and distribution policies, research of processing and utilization and remain as orphan, underutilized, under-researched, and neglected crops of negligible importance. A few are recently gaining importance as health foods and as source of renewable energy. These plant species play a crucial role in the food security, income generation and food culture of the rural farmers. Their enhanced use can improve nutrition and fight hidden hunger among the underprivileged. With increasing awareness of climate change and land and water degradation, there is growing interest on these plant species adapted to difficult environments.

The jackfruit tree or jack or simply known as jak (artocarpus heterophyllus) belongs to the mulberry family (moraceae) and its fruit, jackfruit, is known as the poor-man's food. Spiny and oval or oblong-shaped fruits can weigh upto 40 kg. The jackfruit is grown in India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Southern China, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines and to a limited extent in Queensland, Mauritius, Kenya, Uganda and Zanzibar. Though planted in Hawaii prior to 1888, it is still rare there and in other Pacific Islands. It was introduced into Northern Brazil in mid- 19th century and is more popular there and in Surinam than elsewhere in the new world. It is the national fruit of Bangladesh and Indonesia. Jackfruit gives both food and income.

The editors have made sincere efforts to integrate and include modern science of biotechnology, techniques of jackfruit production, processing, uses, various recipes and marketing so that all persons presently concerned or new entrepreneurs can benefit greatly. Fifty six authors, who are experts on this crop, from major jackfruit-growing countries, have contributed for this book. Many young scientists may not be familiar with the preparation of grant proposals for special funding. An excellent chapter is added in this book to help scientists to prepare a winning proposal for jackfruit research. (jacket)