Multilocation Adaptability Studies of Walnut for Assessing the Scope of Walnut Cultivation in Punjab

Abstract

The walnut plant (Juglans regia) is a resource for food, dermatocosmetic and phytotherapeutic products, is raw material in the wood industry and a source of biomass. Walnut is highly nutritious containing polyphenols, rich in fatty acids, tocopherols and essential mineral and amino acids.  In the present study a multilocation trial of two varieties of walnut “Odum Murree Selection and “Hartley” were done. The trials were conducted at three different sites i-e Tret Murree, Sandhian Murree and Koroda Khushab. Differences in flowering time were observed between the sites with Khushab site having the earlier flowering due to warm temperature. In case of yield per tree Odum Murree selection proved to be superior than Hartley at all the studied sites. Regarding the varieties performance Odum Murree selection proved superior in terms of Nut Weight (10.88 g) and Kernel weight (7.04 g) as compared to values of Nut weight (8.16 g) and kernel weight (4.75 g) in case of Hartley. In terms of number of nuts per tree Odum Murree selection produced 55 % more nuts per tree than Hartley.  It has been shown that the establishment of walnut orchard at different sites is sustainable and appropriate approach for capitalizing agricultural land potential and may have social and economic prospects in future